Gerresheimer plans Georgia tech center
PEACHTREE CITY, GA. — Medical injection molder Gerresheimer Wilden GmbH is expanding its process development capabilities in the United States by constructing a technology center in Peachtree City.
“The new building, its equipment and especially its specialist workers form the main pillar for our sales activities in North America,” said Klaus Walber, chief executive officer of the Regensburg, Germany-based company, in a news release.
Gerresheimer Wilden has broken ground on the 13,000-square-foot facility, which is scheduled to be complete by May. The center will employ 15.
The new center copies a model developed in 2004 in Regensburg. The facility will allow for project management, mold making, automation engineering, quality management, pilot work and product introduction to be done under one roof. It is designed to shorten the startup phases of product development.
Peter Schneider, president of Gerresheimer Wilden Plastics USA LP, will head the new center.
The company said a cadre of employees will be assembled with the help of German workers. American workers will be trained, to ensure a sustainable, independent organization over the long term.
The Peachtree City site will include a prototyping area, injection molding machines, a measurement and multifunction laboratory, and office space.
Gerresheimer Wilden has had operations in the U.S. since 1984, starting with sales offices and joint ventures. It opened its own U.S. production site in Peachtree City in 1993.
The company has a 20,000-square-foot production site that includes a 9,000-square-foot clean room and 9,000 square feet of space that is being converted to a Class 8 clean room. The U.S. operations have about 110 employees working multiple shifts seven days a week.
Gerresheimer Wilden serves the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical technology markets. Key customers include Alfa Wasserman, Boehringer Ingelheim, bioMerieux, Horiba ABX and Roche Diagnostics.
The company has more than 30 injection molding machines, with clamping forces of 25-300 tons. The U.S. subsidiary is certified to DIN EN ISO 13485 and 9001:2000.
Nypro Inc. expanding Europe medical site
ANAHEIM, CALIF. — Global injection molder and contract manufacturer Nypro Inc. is planning to expand its medical capacity in Europe, as part of its effort to increase its global medical footprint by 20 percent.
The expansion, at an existing facility, will include a clean room, said Paul LaFond, Nypro health-care sales director, in an interview at Medical Design & Manufacturing West, held Feb. 10-12 in Anaheim. LaFond did not disclose where the expansion will take place, but said it will begin in the third quarter of this year, with a scheduled completion date of early 2010.
Nypro is based in Clinton, Mass.
Bonifacio launches consulting company
NATICK, MASS. — Injection molding veteran Mark Bonifacio recently formed Bonifacio Consulting Services to help medical- device companies develop and launch new products.
A particular focus of the new company will be to help firms with plastic medical-disposables projects, but Bonifacio Consulting will be able to take on multiple problems, he said in a telephone interview.
Bonifacio, who is based in Natick, has more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing and with medical-device firms. He was a co-founder of Apec in Baldwin Park, Calif., which is now part of Helix Medical LLC.
He said he currently advises several early-stage and midstage firms and has a network of service providers, ranging from specialty contractors, original equipment makers, consultants and operations specialists. He also noted he has worked with operations in the U.S., China and Mexico and can help clients make decisions about outsourcing.
He has a bachelor's degree in plastics engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and is a lifelong member of the Society of Plastics Engineers.
Zeus Inc. pursuing electrospin process
ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Polymer tubing designer and manufacturer Zeus Inc. is pursuing an electrospinning process to make polymer fibers with miniscule thicknesses for medical-device and filtration applications.
A target for the technology is to make fibers with thicknesses ranging from nanoscale to microscale.
Fibers and fabrics of electrospun polymers would have high surface-to-weight and volume ratios, making them suitable for controlled biological interactions along with stand-alone or coded filtration media.
A porous fabric may allow formation of implantable structures within a body. The electrospun fabric allows cellular growth and acts as a scaffolding to permit integration into the body and, if using a bioabsorbable material, eventual body absorption of the scaffolding.
The emerging process should be able to tackle challenging applications, Bruce Anneaux, corporate research and development manager with Orangeburg-based Zeus, said in a news release.
Sil-Pro LLC gains machining center
DELANO, MINN. — Processor and mold maker Sil-Pro LLC of Delano added a Makino vertical robotic machining center with a 12-pallet changer in September.
About 95 percent of Sil-Pro business involves the medical market, with a significant portion in components for long-term implantable devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators, said Brian Higgins, Sil-Pro vice president of sales and marketing.
Employing 100 and occupying 35,000 square feet, Sil-Pro operates 15 liquid injection molding machines of 5-100 tons in separate, fully automated work cells. It also has 14 injection transfer presses of 20-80 tons and one tubing extruder.
Firms curious about liquid silicone rubber
MADISON HEIGHTS, MICH. — Mold technology supplier D-M-E Co. of Madison Heights said its knowledge of the growing liquid silicone rubber market is a key step in the company's future.
An independent, but D-M-E-commissioned, study of 471 molders, mold makers, designers and original equipment manufacturers found an interest for learning more about LSR processing. For many plastics processors, LSR is an uncharted technology that D-M-E wants to help them bridge, said Mike Kreitner, business manager of quick-change mold systems and emergent technologies.
The study found that inexperience with LSR is holding back many plastics processors from working with the material and that molders and mold makers in both plastics and rubber processing view LSR as a growth opportunity.
Scheibel Halaska Inc., headquartered in Milwaukee, conducted the survey for D-M-E, a subsidiary of Milacron Inc.
Rotomolder upgrades certification ratings
ANAHEIM, CALIF. — The Gainesville, Ga., subsidiary of Albert Hohlkörper GmbH achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification in December and is en route to the ISO 13485 designation.
The Georgia operation focuses on the medical and pharmaceutical markets and employs 50. It operates four three- and four-arm rotational molding machines, Rainer Behrendt said in an interview at the Medical Design & Manufacturing West trade show, held Feb. 10-12 in Anaheim. Behrendt is president of the U.S. subsidiary, Albert International Inc., which opened in 1984.
In May 2008, the parent firm in Hemer, Germany, bought back an equity stake in the subsidiary.
Albert Hohlkörper had sold the interest in 2003 to Statcorp of Jacksonville, Fla. Statcorp remains an Albert International customer.
Highly automated and technically self-sufficient, Albert Hohlkörper globally employs more than 200 and established operations in Krakow, Poland, in 1994; Moscow in 2002; and Ningbo, China, in 2007, in addition to the Georgia site. “About 20 percent of our customers get product from several Albert locations,” Behrendt said.
Albert Hohlkörper makes a range of rotomolded bulbs for blood pressure, inline pump-suction, ear and rectal syringe, nasal aspiration and breast pump applications.
The company operates five injection molding machines to manufacture related plastic components.
Behrendt's grandfather, Rudolf Albert, founded the business in the late 1960s, and Behrendt's uncle, another Rudolf Albert, is now chairman and chief executive officer.