Kent Elastomer Products sees bright future in biopharma tubing

For more than six decades, Kent Elastomer Products Inc. has maintained a symbiotic relationship with its customers, changing as their needs have changed.

The $40 million firm in Kent, Ohio, does about 85 percent of its business in health care fields, mainly medical and surgical, finds itself in transition once again, this time pivoting into the thermoplastic elastomer tubing space for biopharma applications.

The new Biopharmaceutical Division will offer "cutting-edge" TPE tubing exclusively for fluid transfer applications.

"If you build it, they will come," said Joe Williamson, KEP's vice president of sales and marketing. "We have capacity in Mogadore — new capacity to add ultrasonic welding, co-extrusion lines — but overall we were running out of room. We are investing in technology as our customers continue to innovate. We are taking on more of a partnership approach.

"Our customers have life science divisions, and they have a current need for these TPE components, so we are essentially creating an entirely new biopharma division."

KEP did not divulge the investment amount for the new TPE lines, but said they are expected to be up and running by August at KEP's 25,000-square-foot Mogadore, Ohio, manufacturing facility.

Anthony Christopher will lead the new line as bioprocessing commercial manager, a hire that took effect May 1.

Christopher comes to KEP from Avon Lake, Ohio-based Avient Corp., where he spearheaded a similar project.

"We are now doing the last of the mechanical tests and we plan to launch in the next month or so with the TPE tubing line," Christopher said. "When you look at launching in this market, there are major players who exist here, so really our first priority is to build our name.

"There is a great opportunity for us to become a second source and that is really where we hope to begin."

Having a track record at the Kent campus in quality processing (in natural rubber latex and custom dip-molding lines), one that the firm claims produces products "that are equal to or exceed" those of its leading competitors, gives KEP an understanding of its position in the market.

"We have a targeted approach," he said. "We know who we want to work with, and we have many existing relationships. In a sense, it is organic in that as their needs changed we changed with them.

"And now we can offer them something in the market that is unique."

Williamson said Christopher's experience in TPEs — and using the material as an alternative to silicone, which can be tough to find and much more expensive — "promises to drive KEP's growth and accelerate product delivery to the market."

Williamson said the move to TPEs for biopharma applications — including extruded tubing, fittings and assembly on bioreactor bags — has been a three-year undertaking.

"We finally finished with most things last summer," he said, adding that was about the time when he and the KEP technical director realized the need to hire someone with experience in launching a biopharma TPE division.

"And that was when Anthony and I reconnected," Williamson said. "We needed a commercial person to run the business for us."

With the economy "somewhat steady at this point," Williamson said KEP will maintain a focus on innovations in all capacities, bringing as much work in-house as possible.

Such vertical integration, as much as can be done, will be completed at the Kent campus with planned improvements over the next several years.

"But right now we are plowing forward with this product line for TPE tubing," Williamson said.

In part, the COVID pandemic highlighted the benefits of TPEs for Kent Elastomer Products.

"There were capacity issues during COVID for silicone, but we had zero supply chain issues with TPEs, and this was a function of our executive leadership team," Williamson said. "One of our secrets was weekly calls to our customers to keep them updated as to where supply chains stood.

"They loved and appreciated our transparency. Our communication was off the charts during the pandemic. Even with their assemblies for injection molded parts, we helped them re-source the materials they needed."

The pandemic served as a breakwall of sorts between silicone and TPEs, as well.

"It was a predominantly silicone market up to 2019," Christopher said. "Silicone always worked ... so why change?

"Then the pandemic hit, supply chain shortages started to occur, especially as they related to silicone. Prices shot up. If you think back on the demand for silicone and the lack of supply — this was really the beginning of TPE in biopharma."

In addition, TPEs are extremely versatile, up to and including vaccine packaging.

"This is where TPE really starts to fit in with its biocompatibility, chemical resistance, clarity and sterilization," Christopher said. "Essentially, TPE takes the same route as silicone, but there are less pure products on the TPE side, in the upstream processing area.

"TPEs have grown in popularity and the cost is much cheaper. Silicone is often over-engineered for a given use, and if you can get the same results with TPE, you have the freedom to create your own design."

TPEs do fall short as packaging and delivery materials for some vaccines.

"For vaccines and cold storage, TPE could cover COVID — but there are others where silicone is the only option," Christopher said.

Williamson added that as KEP evolves and grows, it will maintain a focus on automation and AI in manufacturing as well.

"Today we do have automated and semi-automated production technology," he said. "As AI continues to evolve, our engineers, technicians and sales people will continue to attend conferences and see the latest and greatest technologies ... so that we can innovate for the future of health care."

With about 200 employees today, KEP is a subsidiary of Meridian Industries Inc., a privately owned company that began in 1960. In addition to medical and surgical applications, KEP provides tubing and dip-molded goods for the orthodontic, food and beverage, sports and recreation, laboratory and industrial markets.

KEP's six decades of success spans from natural rubber latex tubing to TPE and PVC tubing and its brand name "Free-Band" tourniquets.

The company provides "prototype expertise and guidance, packaging solutions and on-time delivery that keep a wide range of industries moving and growing."

The company maintains three locations in Ohio, including the Mogadore location where the TPE biopharma segment initially will be located.

Other locations are in Winesburg (about 75,000 square feet for assembly, quality and shipping operations) and in Kent, where the company's headquarters and the natural rubber latex and custom dip-molded operations are located, at about 50,000 square feet.

There are major plans for the Kent campus moving forward as it relates to the biopharma segment, Williamson said, as KEP looks to expand there.

"We were looking at breaking ground on a new facility in Kent last summer, but given the fluctuations in the economy and some other unknowns, we held the project," Williamson said.

KEP is looking to re-engage this year and add another 50,000 square feet in Kent — a project that could be operational with a few years. Some of the planned space will be biopharma TPE tubing production, handling as much as, if not more than, the Mogadore campus already is processing.

"Our intention is to double our capacity for extrusion, with new lines and a clean room, perhaps some future warehouse space," he said. "We'd like to double the size of our business in the next three years, and that is just in TPE, and this is a conservative estimate."

The future is bright for KEP as it looks to grow alongside the people it serves in the health care industry.

"This is an entirely new rebrand and launch," Williamson said. "We are starting this from scratch.

"It is going to be a great thing for this company. We have presented the new line and expansion plans to employees and they all love the direction. There has not been this much excitement in what is going on here at KEP in awhile.

"This is a great opportunity for our employees, and a great opportunity for us to bring these services to Northeast Ohio — and bring new jobs for the great people of this state."