COYOL, Costa Rica (May 6, 2015) – For the second year in a row, Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has received a Shingo award from the prestigious Shingo Institute, part of the Jon R. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.  The company’s facility located at Coyol, in the Alajuela province of  Costa Rica, has earned the Shingo Bronze Medallion for successfully delivering on several key initiatives and for overall operational excellence.

Last year the Boston Scientific Maple Grove, Minn. facility earned Shingo recognition for efforts to drive quality, reduce cost and deliver innovative products.

“Receipt of the Shingo Bronze Medallion signifies an organization’s mastery of fundamental tools and techniques for improving operations,” said Mark Baker, executive director at the Shingo Institute. “Companies that receive the Bronze Medallion are making great progress on their journey to achieving enterprise excellence.”

The Boston Scientific Coyol facility has met or exceeded goals for quality, service and cost by focusing on strategic priorities, including a relentless adherence to lean business practices across all work teams and departments. Achievements include the following:

• a savings of $63.3 million over the last four years, driven in part by new investments in facility technologies, gains in key quality measures and other value improvement projects;

• a 90 percent reduction in manufacturing-related complaints; and

• since 2012, employees have proposed 14,315 continuous improvement ideas with animplementation rate of 58 percent.

“Embarking on the operational excellence journey using this principle-based approach has been the best decision we have made,” says Jorge Perera, vice president of operations and plant manager at Boston Scientific Coyol. “We have not only seen the sustainability of our business results, but have witnessed the transformation of our business culture, fueled by the levels of energy and engagement from all our team members.”

Boston Scientific Coyol manufactures more than 700 parts in 67 product families for the company’s Endoscopy, Interventional Cardiology, Rhythm Management, Urology and Peripheral Interventions business units. The Boston Scientific Coyol facility was formally recognized this week at the 27th Shingo International Conference in Provo, Utah.

About the Shingo Institute

Housed at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, the Shingo Institute is named after Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo. Shingo distinguished himself as one of the world’s thought leaders in concepts, management systems and improvement techniques that have become known as the Toyota Business System. Drawing from Shingo’s teachings and years of experience working with organizations throughout the world, the Shingo Institute has developed the Shingo Model™ which is the basis for several educational offerings including workshops, study tours and conferences. It also awards and recognizes organizations that demonstrate an exceptional culture that continually strives for improvement and progress.

About Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific transforms lives through innovative medical solutions that improve the health of patients around the world.  As a global medical technology leader for more than 35 years, we advance science for life by providing a broad range of high performance solutions that address unmet patient needs and reduce the cost of healthcare.  For more information, visit www.bostonscientific.com and connect on Twitter and Facebook.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  Forward-looking statements may be identified by words like “anticipate,” “expect,” “project,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “intend” and similar words.  These forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and estimates using information available to us at the time and are not intended to be guarantees of future events or performance.  These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding our improvements to operations.  If our underlying assumptions turn out to be incorrect, or if certain risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements.  These factors, in some cases, have affected and in the future (together with other factors) could affect our ability to implement our business strategy and may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the statements expressed in this press release.  As a result, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of our forward-looking statements. 

Factors that may cause such differences include, among other things: future economic, competitive, reimbursement and regulatory conditions; new product introductions; demographic trends; intellectual property; litigation; financial market conditions; and future business decisions made by us and our competitors.  All of these factors are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of them are beyond our control.  For a further list and description of these and other important risks and uncertainties that may affect our future operations, see Part I, Item 1A – Risk Factors in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we may update in Part II, Item 1A – Risk Factors in Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q we have filed or will file hereafter.  We disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which those expectations may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.  This cautionary statement is applicable to all forward-looking statements contained in this document.

CONTACT:

Ryan Davenport
Global Media Relations
Boston Scientific Corporation
763-494-2664 (office)
media@bsci.com 

Susie Lisa, CFA
508-683-5565 (office)
Investor Relations
Boston Scientific Corporation
investor_relations@bsci.com