Injection molding company Plastikos (Erie, Pa.), announced it has added two Arburg micro molding machines, each capable of delivering a shot size as small as 0.3 oz of material.
The company reported that medical sales increased by more than 10% in 2019 with a strong demand focused on smaller, miniature devices.
“Plastikos saw an opportunity as a result of an increasing trend within the medical industry through various micro fluidic and wearable devices,” said Rob Cooney, Plastikos’ manufacturing manager, in a news release. “As components continue to be miniaturized and various hot-runner technologies become available to go runner-less, it was critical to provide smaller shot capabilities to ensure optimal barrel utilization and shot-to-shot consistency to maximize our quality and efficiency. These new machines provide us with the flexibility to meet our stringent customer demands at all cavitation levels.”
The upgrades are being completed within Plastikos’ ISO 7 cleanroom, which is being tailored to accommodate the two medical micro molding machines, complete with side-entry robotics. Once finished, the expected capacity within Plastikos’ original cleanroom is projected to increase by 25%.
Plastikos attained ISO 13485 certification in 2019 and opened Plastikos Medical, a 25,000-square-foot facility dedicated to cleanroom medical injection molding within an ISO cleanroom environment. In total, Plastikos and Plastikos Medical has grown to 42 molding machines, nearly half of which are in an ISO 7 cleanroom.
The continued investment represents Plastikos’ commitment to grow with and to support medical device customers as their business and product portfolio continues to expand, according to Plastikos president and GM Philip Katen.
“We’re very excited to utilize these two brand new micro molding machines.” Katen said. “It will enable our customers to provide the innovative medical devices that make their customers’ lives better every day.”