Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
February 15, 2018 01:00 AM

Zeus investing $91.9 million to expand in South Carolina

Catherine Kavanaugh
Senior Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Catherine Kavanaugh
    Irina Roof of Zeus Industrial Products, which is expanding in South Carolina and launching a new series of extremely thin-walled liners.

    Anaheim, Calif. —​ Zeus Industrial Products plans to invest $91.9 million and hire 370 more employees at two of its facilities in South Carolina.

    The Orangeburg, S.C.-based components manufacturer also has launched a new series of extremely thin-walled liners extruded from polytetrafluoroethylne (PTFE) that it says will advance catheter designs to improve patient care.

    The closely held business has not disclosed what's driving the need to add 148,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 350 workers in Gaston, S.C., but hiring is underway for some positions. That $76 million expansion won't be completed until 2019.

    Zeus also will invest $15.9 million and add 20 employees to its existing operations in Orangeburg, where plans call for a 64,000-square-foot expansion to centralize engineering and offer tooling design, parts fabrication, tooling production and machine assembly.

    Founded in 1966, Zeus sells tubing, wires and fibers to the medical, automotive, electrical and fiber optics markets. Its latest innovation: PTFE liners with a maximum wall thicknesses of 0.00075 inches (0.01905 mm) for the very inner part of catheters.

    Called StreamLiner XT, this is the thinnest extruded PTFE liner available, Zeus' material scientist Irina Roof said at the Medical Design & Manufacturing West trade show, held Feb. 6-8 in Anaheim.

    "This is about half the thickness of the traditional legacy products on the market," Roof said of the recently launched ultrathin product.

    The series also contains StreamLiner VT, which is slightly larger with a maximum wall thickness of 0.001 inches (0.025 mm).

    Zeus developed PTFE tubing with superthin walls in 1968 for a division of Johnson & Johnson, which was one of its first medical customers. The company's business model has long been to collaborate with customers on special extrusions.

    Catherine Kavanaugh

    The ultra thin PTFE liner makes it possible for doctors to access smaller, more remote vasculatures and anatomies.

    Fast forward 40 years and Zeus is reducing the thickness of the base liner of catheters to help its customers design and manufacturer microcatheters with increased inner diameters and reduced outer diameters. The resulting medical devices will allow doctors to access smaller, more remote vasculatures and anatomies.

    "This innovation will help catheter manufacturers advance their technology," Zeus spokesman Billy Williams said at MD&M West. "It was definitely customer-driven. Medical device manufacturers let us know what will help them and everyone is looking to go thinner."

    Catheters have increasingly complex constructions. The PTFE liners are enclosed with a thin, braided reinforcement of stainless steel for strength, pushability and tractability. The braiding is covered with a nylon jacketing for flexibility, and that has a peel-off FEP heat shrink wrap to protect the outer shaft.

    By increasing the catheter lumen space and decreasing the overall profile, Zeus is enabling device manufacturers to design smaller, more functional devices for navigating the body, particularly during minimally invasive surgical procedures for cardio and neurovascular patients.

    The catheters could be used as guidewires to accurately route a surgical instrument or deliver a device, such as a balloon to open a blood vessel, for procedures like angioplasty to restore blood flow, ablation to treat cardiac tissue and atherectomy to remove fatty deposits in arteries. A Zeus slideshow depicts a StreamLiner winding through the tortuous twists and turns of a model of the internal carotid artery, which supplies blood to the brain.

    Zeus was one of a handful of businesses highlighted on an MD&M innovation tour. The company's thinnest PTFE base liners looked like stiff strands of hair as Roof held them up.

    "Imagine threading something through this opening in order to deliver a device or perform a diagnostic procedure. With that said, lubricity is critical," Roof told the group.

    Sufficient lubricity means less force is needed to deploy the device and a greater likelihood for a successful procedure. Liners made from the fluoropolymer material have exceedingly smooth inner surfaces that allow catheter technologies, such as stents and balloons, to be pushed through the tight channels.

    Zeus is promoting StreamLiner by urging customers to "change your liner, not your process."

    "With the StreamLiner series, a catheter manufacturer can almost keep their same process yet gain that extra space on the inner part of the catheter channel," Williams said.

    Zeus is also out with a new liquid crystal polymer monofilament designed to perform similarly to stainless steel but be compatible for magnetic resonance imaging.

    "It's going to be a significantly higher price point than stainless steel, but there are a lot of benefits," Williams said. "The safety aspect is key."

    Zeus currently has more than 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 23 clean rooms at nine facilities in the United States, Europe and Asia, employing about 1,300.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Linamar buys EV battery enclosure business from Dura-Shiloh
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Treaty talks end with plans for a draft agreement, but hurdles remain
    2
    Resin Prices
    3
    Resin Prices - North America
    4
    WL Plastics building $40M MDPE pipe plant in Texas
    5
    PP recycler PureCycle sees Ohio plant as springboard for growth
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified