Ernie Green Industries Inc. has expanded its stake in medical markets with an interest in Mpack Systems LLC.
Mpack supplies specialty packaging to pharmacies and mail-order drug fulfillment centers that improve efficiency and enhance patient safety and compliance. Ernie Green subsidiary eNNovea obtained a 30 percent interest in Mpack for undisclosed terms.
Mpack has developed flat, injection molded plastic vials for pharmaceuticals that fit into envelopes. Unlike conventional medicine packaging that must by manually sorted, Mpack's product allows high-speed, automated sorting by the U.S. Postal Service and couriers, said Ernie Green President Larry Jutte in a telephone interview.
Mpack has been using a prototype mold but eNNovea is building a multicavity tool that will go into production this month at its Erie, Pa., facility, Jutte predicted.
Earlier this year eNNovea agreed to invest $2.5 million in medical-devices producer PercuVision LLC and take a 26 percent ownership position in the Columbus, Ohio, firm. When the deal was announced in March, Ernie Green said the agreement would support Ernie Green's existing medical products and help it to develop new ones. A key PercuVision product is its direct vision catheter.
eNNovea is a contract manufacturer for medical and industrial markets with injection molding capability. Ernie Green of Beavercreek, Ohio, has other businesses that mold plastic auto parts, coat materials for automotive end uses, and supply automotive assemblies. The firm expanded its automotive molding business in 2010 through its Florida Production Engineering Inc. subsidiary with the establishment of an operation in Seagrove N.C., in a plant formerly occupied by Moll Industries Inc.
“The affiliation with Mpack Systems supports our strategy to bring innovative technologies to the health-care industry,” Jutte said.
Mpack President William Negrini said Ernie Green and eNNovea are major manufacturers with 10 locations in North America and offer design, manufacturing and sales expertise.
