Distinctive taps into technology to win business in medical devices

Vista, Calif. — Distinctive Plastics Inc. decided it needed to get into molding for medical device components in 2010. A year later, when it obtained its ISO 13485 certification, medical devices accounted for 1 percent of sales.

"So far this year, about 25 percent of our sales can be attributed to medical devices," Timothy Curnutt, the company's president, said in an interview at the plant in Vista.

The 44,000-square-foot plant runs machines around the clock, up to six days a week, and Curnett noted, "with our two-shot and in-mold decoration abilities … we have much to offer the medical device industry."

Over three years, Distinctive has added three medical customers.

"By next year, we should be in production on two major medical device projects that involve 17 molds utilizing IMD, two-shot, ultrasonic welding, electrical testing, leak testing, serialization and several complex electronic assembly operations," Curnutt said.

Distinctive takes pride in maintaining a clean plant environment and is adding automated high-efficiency particulate filtration equipment made in-house in its work centers.

"We have built HEPA-filtered cells for our standard molding machines as well as our two-shot machines," Curnutt said. "And now we have HEPA-filtered sonic welding and assembly cells. We find that these cells improve quality in many of our cosmetic processes, such as optically clear lenses, IMD and medical devices."

Other than medical, Distinctive's legacy industrial products such as spa parts, pump housings and plumbing valves and manifolds account for about 50 percent of sales.

The remaining 25 percent comes from packaging and components for shopping-network-type consumer merchandise such as fashion, beauty, electronics, jewelry and home decor products.

For several years, Curnutt worked closely with Suhas Kulkarni, president of FimmTech Inc. now in Carlsbad, Calif., and the relationship is paying dividends.

FimmTech offers training and certifications, industry research and development, and support for its software.

Kulkarni developed his Nautilus-brand process and qualification software for scientific plastics processing.

"In 2009, we engaged a top senior process engineer who was already very knowledgeable in the principles of scientific molding for the specific purpose of instituting the Nautilus program on every process here. This has made a big difference and really opened our eyes as to the importance of the cycle consistency that the automation brings," Curnutt said.

Distinctive uses the Nautilus program to perform production qualifications for its medical device customers and others.

Distinctive operates 26 Arburg and Toyo injection molding machines of 20-500 tons, including 16 horizontals, six two-shots and four verticals.

Over recent years, Distinctive has invested more than $1.5 million for new processing and automation equipment.

The additions include Distinctive's second 500-ton machine, an all-electric Toyo SI-500V K600CU.

Five new Arburgs include a 66-ton model 375 V 500-290 vertical rotary machine, a 66-ton model 370S 600-170U swivel-clamp machine, a 110-ton model 420C 1000-350/60 two-shot machine with an integrated Multilift H robot, a 165-ton model 470C 1500-400 and a 66-ton model 370 E 600-170 hybrid-electric. The last two presses are equipped with Arburg-built Multilift V beam robots.

Distinctive has added four Fanuc six-axis robots and two Universal Robots six-axis collaborative robots known as cobots. That brings the total count to six beam robots and 10 six-axis robots. The Distinctive team integrates all of the Fanuc and Universal robots.

"When I first started buying automation, I thought we would save money on labor," Curnutt said. "I found out that the real savings is due to quality. In fact, we have never laid people off due to automation."

Distinctive finds the robots can maintain cycle time consistency, do repetitive work and allow employees to have more time for inspection and documentation.

Distinctive employs more than 70, including six in its mold shop, with four certified as Master Moldmakers. Those hires include one person hired in late August and another two in late 2016.

With the additional mold making talent, Distinctive builds the majority of its tools for medical device programs in-house. Some other molds are procured from China vendors.

To increase capabilities of the toolroom team, Distinctive added a Mitsubishi EA12S sinker electrical discharge machine, a Mitsubishi BA8 wire EDM and a Methods high-speed EDM hole popper. Now, Distinctive has five EDMs.

For the milling department, Distinctive added a Haas VF3 computer-numerical-control machining center.

In addition, Distinctive contracted with Countywide San Diego Machine Tool Repair of La Mesa, Calif., for refurbishing three Lagun milling machines and retrofitting each with ProtoTrak SMX2 CNC capability.

In the grinding department, Distinctive acquired three Mitsui MSG-250 MH surface grinders with 0.00001-inch digital readouts in two axes. "We are seeing a dramatic shift in mold making demands returning to the United States," Curnutt said.

Distinctive is adjusting.

On the management structure, Violeta Curnutt is now Distinctive's chief financial officer and the company's major stockholder.

Industry veteran Dean Gaffney joined the team as director of operations in April 2015.

"Having Violeta and Dean run the company enables me to focus more on engineering, sales and growth strategy," Curnutt said. "Also, our two sons, Dustin and Tim Jr., are an intricate part of our continued success."

Dustin, 40, focuses on mold making and robotics, and Tim Jr., 28, concentrates on the information technology, engineering and plastics processing functions.

Distinctive reported 2017 sales of $10.1 million. "So far in 2018, we are on track to increase more than 10 percent," Curnutt said.

Other auxiliary services include pad printing, hot stamping, sonic welding, heat staking and assembly.

Distinctive is certified under the ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 standards.

Going forward, Curnutt envisions more medical work, two-shot molding, IMD and in-house toolmaking.

"In the past few years, the number of our IMD jobs has more than doubled, and the two-shot machines are the busiest in our plant," he said. "Nearly a third of our revenue comes from the two-shot machines, and it is increasing every year."

To deal with this need, Distinctive is building an automated, HEPA-filtered molding cell for use with a 110-ton Arburg 470A 1000-290/170 two-shot machine to meet 2019's anticipated demands. That press will have a servo rotary indexing unit and a Fanuc 200 iD robot.