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Two custom molders in the Northeast are boosting their capacity to serve medical markets:

, Auburn, N.Y., has done some medical molding for a few years, but is now making a serious push into this market. The company has an unsual advantage in offering both injection and blow molding capabilities, according to Ron Ringleben, v.p. of ´óÏó´«Ã½ development (for more, visit here and here). Currier is targeting specific segments of the medical market: in-vitro diagnostics (vials, closures, tubes, pipettes), pharmaceutical containers, and handheld medical instruments. For example, applications could involve both blow molded containers and injection molded closures (photo).

Ringleben notes that Currier recently installed three clean rooms, one each for injection and blow molding and assembly. The company is aiming for ISO 13485-2016 certification by this coming January.

NPI/Medical, Ansonia, Conn., recently invested over $1 million in molding and quality-assurance equipment for the medical market. The firm installed a 330-ton Fanuc Roboshot all-electric press from Milacron Plastics Technologies to support expanded medical-device programs and provide a larger shot size; an 80-ton Milacron MV80 vertical shuttle press for insert molding (pictured); and a 40-ton ARBURG, Inc. Allrounder 270A all-electric with integrated servo-driven sprue picker. In addition, NPI/Medical acquired a Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology, LLC Contura coordinate-measuring machine (CMM) with active scanning and multipoint sensor for the in-house quality lab.

According to CEO Randy Ahlm, these machinery upgrades are part of an ongoing equipment replacement plan to support the current ´óÏó´«Ã½ growth. “Growth from our medical-device and life-sciences production segment was nearly 20%, while our QTM (Quick-Turn Manufacturing) ´óÏó´«Ã½ grew over 30% in the last 12 months. Our prototype-to-production capability is creating huge dividends for our customers who wish to seamlessly launch new programs faster and without the disruption of changing suppliers during each phase of the new-product launch process.” (More on NPI/Medical here.)