This year’s edition of MD&M West (Feb. 11-13, 2020) is coming up fast. The show in Anaheim, Calif., will have more than 1,000 exhibitors and several educational sessions for medtech professionals.
New to this year’s show will be the MD&M Innovation Lab, showcasing end-product technologies from across the medtech industry and keynote presentations from Microsoft, Auris Health, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Stryker executives.
Medical Design & Outsourcing offered a preview of show exhibitors you need to know in December. Here’s an update:
TE Connectivity
Booth #3219
Silicon Microstructures’ IntraSense biocompatible sensor (Image from TE Connectivity)
TE Connectivity (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) will showcase its portfolio of connectivity and sensor solutions. The company will also hold a series of interactive and educational demonstrations at its booth, including:
- A liquid medical systems demo to show how the company’s sensors perform in a system simulating an infusion pump or dialysis system. The demo will display temperature, force, pressure, humidity, ultrasonic and other medical sensing technologies collecting real-time data as fluid circulates through this system. The data will be displayed to demonstrate how TE sensors are used to track vital aspects of a medical system.
- FX29 compact load cell demo will allow visitors to use the mallet and hit the force sensor. There will be an electronic peak detector connected to a sample and hold circuit with a digital display to capture the peak impact.
- Cath lab simulation will give visitors the chance to deploy a stent, replace a heart valve and save a life.
Silicon Microstructures, recently acquired by TE Connectivity, will show its IntraSense product line, which features biocompatible sensors that fit into 1-French tubing, at Booth #701 IntraSense was designed to benefit minimally invasive surgical procedures by allowing pressure measurements directly in many spaces throughout the anatomy.
Covestro
Booth #2221
(Image from Covestro)
Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany) will introduce medical-grade polycarbonate families for drug delivery and surgical devices. Its Makrolon M204 LF, Makrolon M402 LF and Makrolon M404 LF have reduced coefficients of friction, eliminating the need for external lubricants for auto-injectors and injection pens used by patients.
Covestro has also developed new glass-filled polycarbonates for surgical and drug delivery applications that demand stiffness and strength, such as load-bearing internal components for drug delivery devices and handles for minimally invasive or laparoscopic surgical tools. These grades are divided into two series with varying levels of reinforcement. This high-performance Makrolon series includes Makrolon M810 GF, M820 GF and M830 GF polycarbonates. In the high-flow series, Makrolon M410 GF, M420 GF and M430 GF polycarbonates are used for filling larger or thinner parts with improved productivity.
West Pharmaceutical Services
Booth #2835
(Image from West Pharmaceutical Services)
The West Pharmaceutical contract manufacturing team will be available to discuss its offerings as a single-source solution from product conceptualization through manufacturing and final packaging. The West Whiteland Township, Penn.-based company’s senior director of analytical labs, Jennifer Riter, will speak with Susan Neadle, senior director of global value chain quality for Johnson & Johnson, on Wednesday, February 12, between 9:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. on effective combination product risk management programs in Room 209A.
Herrmann Ultrasonics
Booth #2811
(Image from Herrmann Ultrasonics)
Hermann Ultrasonics is touting its new HiQ G2 ultrasonic welding system as having the flexibility of a customized machine with minutely revamped controller software and comprehensible visualizations of machine components, connected devices and their behavior. The controller software’s modularity permits simple expansion and also adaptation to future tasks such as predictive maintenance and data mining, according to Bartlett, Ill.-based Herrmann.
The software is designed for quick tool change, ensuring that the stack used, the equipment, and the selected weld program are compatible with one another. It can inform the user about problems, suggest changes and act immediately to solve them. An automatic tool clamping system helps facilitate the change.
TT Electronics
Booth #1628
TT Electronics (Woking, UK) will tout its sensors, specialist components, power supplies and IoT solutions. Company experts will be onsite to discuss new and existing capabilities and products, including:
- Ultra-fine wire winding.
- Medical grade power supplies and telemetry (antenna) coils.
- Field generation coils.
- Liquid tube sensors.
- Simulation design software, expert handling, termination, and microscope soldering, compliant to ISO 13485 standards and performed in a class 100,000 clean room.
Emerson
Booth #3201
Emerson will show its ASCO Series 090 precision gas control for portable medical devices. These miniature solenoid valves are designed to precisely control gases and meet critical flow requirements in portable therapeutic devices and analyzers. The valves offer energy-efficiency and 50-million-cycle service life, according to the company.
AGC Chemicals
Booth #2360
(Image from AGC Chemicals)
AGC (Exton, Penn.) will tout its Amolea AT2 and the AsahiKlin AE-3000 series of fluorinated solvents for environmentally sound cleaning of medical devices. As alternatives to other solvents such as n-propyl bromide and trichloroethylene, these cleaning agents have no flash point, no ozone depletion potential low global warming potential and low surface tension. They are used to clean a range of medical devices, including orthopedic implants, catheters, tubes, scopes, needles, dental devices and surgical tools.
AGC is also introducing Forblue sunsep membrane gas dryers for a variety of medical gas humidification processes, which require no power source. The system is maintenance- and bacteria-free and quiet during use for patients’ comfort, according to AGC.
SABIC
SABIC research laboratory, Netherlands (Image from SABIC)
SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) won’t have a booth at the show, but it will have experts on hand presenting on challenges and material solutions around to mitigate healthcare disinfectant exposure. On Tuesday, February 11, from 3:30-4:15 p.m. PST in the Tech Theater, Manish Nandi, business development manager for specialties in the Americas, and Nithin Raikar, senior business manager for LNP resins and compounds, will give a talk entitled, “Keeping medical equipment clean and durable: PC copolymer technology innovations that improve chemical resistance against hospital disinfectants.”
Toray Industries
Booth #3806
(Image from Toray Industries)
Toray will tout its Toyolac transparent ABS resin in a booth shared with its distributor, Tre Polymer.
Toray markets its Toyolac transparent ABS as a less expensive alternative to polycarbonate. It became available in the U.S. in 2019 and is an FDA Drug Master File-registered material that can be molded at much lower cylinder temperatures than polycarbonate (210° C to 260° C, versus 280° C to about 310° C for polycarbonate). In spiral-flow testing, Toyolac can reach 270 mm, whereas polycarbonate gets to 100 mm before stopping.
Applications include housings, infusion sets, and other drug and blood-contact devices.
Milacron
Booth #4294
(Image from Milacron)
Milacron Injection Molding & Extrusion (Cincinnati) will collaborate with Nexus Elastomer Systems to demonstrate the liquid silicone rubber (LSR) capabilities of Milacron’s Roboshot machine.
Milacron will show the latest generation of its all-electric Alpha 110iA Roboshot LSR molding cell. It combines a large platen using a small 14mm, 9cc LSR injection unit integrated with an X20 SERVOMIX dosing pump, a cold runner system using Flowset cavity balancing with a 2-cavity mold, and a Nexmover robotic demolding system by Nexus. The 3.0 cc shot size will demonstrate the capability of tackling near micro-molding LSR applications.
Mahr
Booth #3055
(Image from Mahr)
Precision measurement equipment manufacturer Mahr (Providence, R.I.) will feature its latest innovations for medtech, including the MarSurf CP.
The MarSurf CP’s flexible sensors can measure roughness, form, micro-geometry, contour and more on a variety of materials. It is available with vertical measurement ranges from 500um to 50mm and resolutions down into the nanometer scale. Equipped with an overview camera and capable of holding multiple sensors, MarSurf CP systems may be programmed for automatic measurement of multiple features, even on very complex parts. Mahr will also highlight:
- MarShaft Scope 250 plus, a flexible optical system for shop-floor measurement of small rotationally symmetrical parts.
- Air gaging solutions.
- MarSurf CD, GD and VD, a new line of surface measuring instruments for roughness and contour measurements.
- MarSurf PS 10, designed for the rapid shop-floor testing of surface roughness with one-button operation.
- Integrated wireless products, including Micromar micrometers, MarCal calipers and MarCator indicators.
- Millimar Cockpit gaging software and interface modules.
