In its endeavor to expand its growing diabetes business, the Minneapolis-based medical device maker Medtronic Inc. intends making 1,400 job-additions in the coming five-year period, at its new San Antonio, Texas-based customer support facility, scheduled to open late this summer.

In its announcement on Monday, the company said that the first lot of recruitments, for the new 150,000-square-foot diabetes therapy management and education center, will commence with immediate effect.

Talking about the facility - which would hire customer service, training and education personnel at the Texas site - Medtronic spokesman Steve Sabicer said: “We’re moving into a facility that addresses our five-year growth targets.”

The support facility, a part of the Medtronic unit involved in the manufacturing of insulin pumps and diabetes monitoring devices, will expectedly generate economic benefits over $750 million a year San Antonio and Texas.

With the company having received a total of $14 million grants and incentives from state and local governments, it would, in turn, award $50,000 apiece in grants to the Social and Health Research Center as well as CentroMed for programs initiated to help reduce diabetes risk factors and improve awareness and education about the ailment.