Kickstart: The man who created plastic lifesaving medical products

There aren't many people who can claim that they've saved millions of lives in their careers. William P. Murphy Jr., who died at the age of 100 on Nov. 30, was one of them.

The biomedical researcher created the vinyl blood bag in the 1950s, replacing fragile glass bottles, and improving storage and transportation that advanced medical care on battlefields, disaster zones and remote locations.

During development and testing, Murphy went to front lines of the Korean War. Once there, he took note of how medical instruments were often not fully sterilized before being reused, increasing risks of infection, The Washington Post noted in his obituary. Once back in his lab, he developed a single-use kit of sterilized medical equipment and drugs.

During his engineering studies — after becoming a doctor — he developed a projector to display enlarged X-ray images.

In the 1980s, he created Cordis Corp., a medical research company that improved the pacemaker.

Oh, and as a teenager living in Massachusetts, he created a gasoline-powered snowblower.

Murphy had some pretty solid role models. His father, William Murphy Sr., was part of a team that won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1934. His mother, Harriet, also no slouch, was the first licensed female dentist in Massachusetts.

Murphy continued to influence new medical technology well into his 90s, serving as chairman of Florida-based biotechnology firm U.S. Stem Cell until 2022.

As the auto industry converts more production to electric vehicles — and consumers debate whether to buy an EV — auto suppliers will face more pressure to compete on costs while dealing with new vehicle launches that may be delayed or pushed forward unexpectedly.

How will they survive?

"There's a lot of discussion around this, and if there's anything we've seen in the industry over the last three years, it's that suppliers have found a way to be less 'West Michigan nice' and to be a little more aggressive, to stand up for themselves and to stand up for themselves quickly," ADAC Automotive Inc. CEO Jon Husby said during an automotive outlook event hosted by the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, Mich., covered by our sister paper Crain's Grand Rapids Business.

Grand Rapids-based ADAC is a supplier of door handles and exterior mirrors. It ranks No. 50 among North American injection molders, according to Plastics News data, with an estimated $200 million in annual sales in the region.

You can find more coverage of the event here.

Rugby is a sport that's tough on its players. World Rugy is now mandating the use of "smart" mouthguards with integrated electronics within the plastic substrate that could help reduce injuries and make conditions a bit better for those players.

The Cleveland Clinic developed the technology, now backed by Dublin-based World Rugby, in an investment worth more than $2 million. The Prevent Biometrics Intelligent Mouthguard will be mandated for use by 7,500 professional players beginning in 2024.

Sensors record head impacts then communicate via Bluetooth with medics who can use that information to identify whether athletes should undergo concussion assessment, our sister paper Crain's Cleveland Business writes.