Plastic Solutions for Medical Device Manufacturing Challenges

Diagnostic equipment and instruments for medical device manufacturing remain in high demand for manufacturers in the United States due to the growth of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The healthcare community requires technology and innovations in an effort to make critical diagnoses as early as possible.

Therefore, original equipment manufacturers require sourced components to be long-lasting, with excellent functionality and at a conservative price point. Axenics often points to plastics for medical equipment solutions because they are versatile, clean, sturdy and affordable. Two specialties we provide for customers in the health field are:

• Plastic Manifold Transportation Systems
• Plastic Tube Bending

Here’s how the four attributes mentioned above apply to these manufacturing services:

Versatility

Plastic manifold transportation systems have a smaller footprint than other options due to their direct pathways, making it a shorter trip for liquids and gases. Their versatility also includes the simple ability to expand with additional manifolds or lines added later if required. Manifold transportation systems also have easy access for repairs – though repairs are uncommon for this type of system.

Plastic tube bending is performed at Axenics on a variety of plastic types to create piping kits and tubing assemblies. We do a lot of work with Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a chemical resistant plastic that is ideal for transporting potentially harmful liquids or gases. Plastic tube bending to create delivery systems is also performed in house on plastics such as polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) and others.

Cleanliness

Axenics takes cleanliness extremely seriously. When creating components for use in the medical device or semiconductor industry, we utilize a cleanroom in order to keep any particles or contamination from ending up in your product. It only takes a miniscule piece of dust to severely damage a silicon wafer that is used in many semiconductor processes. It’s like tossing a big, filthy wrench into the gears.

For plastic tube bending, we only use raw tubing that has been professionally cleaned and bagged by our reliable suppliers. We would rather take the time to perform clean processes than have to go back and re-do the work due to contamination. It saves us all time and money.

Sturdiness

The manifolds for our customers are tested during each step of production to ensure a leak-tight performance. Fewer leak points also make manifolds a stronger transportation system for the production of medical device components, as the risk of cross-contamination is lowered significantly.

Axenics’ proprietary technique for plastic tube bending allows for a strong system free of kinks that works on plastic tubing from as thick as 2 inches down to 1/16th-inch. The potentially-caustic gases and chemicals that flow through tubing means that plastics are often a sturdier, more-reliable option than metal tubing.

Affordability

Plastic manifold transportation systems are smaller than many other delivery systems with a lower part count, making them more affordable on the materials side. Plus, they generally have a faster production time than other delivery systems, also saving on labor. One more plus is that the need for preventative maintenance is low for manifold delivery systems.

Plastic tubing is generally more cost-effective than metal tubing, and with Axenics’ proprietary technique for bending, you can be assured that we share the cost savings of parts and labor with our customers.

Our team of technicians is excited about the advancements within the field of life-saving devices. They like nothing better than improving their own skills, and the demand for “smaller, faster, cheaper” keeps them happily on their toes.

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