NPE Trade Show

The initial application for the industry's first cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) elastomer is expected to debut soon in an extruded medical application.

The newly developed material targets plastics such as nylon and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in medical applications including tubing and bags. The benefits of the COC elastomer for film are toughness, purity and moisture barrier.

In a demonstration at NPE2012, Sodick Plustech (Schaumburg, IL), a manufacturer of high-precision injection molding machinery, will mold a medical syringe made of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) in a mold developed by Nypro (Clinton, MA).

Plastic replaces metal in a device that applies dental fillings, making it lighter and easier to handle.

The working parts of the DinoPress applicator, which are subject to heavy mechanical stress, are now made from polyetheretherketone (PEEK) from Evonik Industries. The device can be steam sterilized up to 134°C.

The new DinoPress has been developed jointly by Gossau, Switzerland-based Alfred Schmid AG, producers of plastic parts for the dental industry for more than 40 years, and Basel, Switzerland-based Dolder AG.

Haitian is introducing a new all-electric line for medical molding at NPE2012 that is the fruition of a seven-year German-based development project to break into the Japanese-dominated field of high-tech, all electric injection molding machinery.

One of the interesting medical demonstrations at NPE 2012 will be molding of components in a multi-cavity mold for SHL, a major Swedish producer of drug delivery devices.

It will be representative of one of the medical market trends to look for at this year's NPE: An increasing emphasis on technologies that help reduce costs. Higher tooling cavitation is one approach; another is integrated, highly productive systems.

Three years ago, Jim Fiocchi walked the aisles of NPE2009 in Chicago trying to find potential customers for what he and his brother John thought could possibly become a China-based moldmaking business.

Highlighting its expertise as a system solution provider, Engel (Schwertberg, Austria) will show two auto-related, highly integrated and automated manufacturing cells at the upcoming NPE 2012 show in Orlando, Florida this April.

If you have money left in your 2011 T&E budget, I suggest buying tickets now to fly to two first-rate shows and conferences in 2012 for medical designers and processors.

First up is Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West being held Feb. 13-16 in Anaheim, CA. Owned by the same company that publishes this Web site, MD&M has spawned many regional shows around the USA, but for my money, the Anaheim show remains the most interesting.

Leaders of the Japanese injection molding machinery sector and other local plastic industry heavyweights were out in force a few nights back at a reception organized by NPE organizer SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association (Washington, DC) coinciding with the IPF show in Japan. SPI President and CEO Bill Carteaux welcomed almost 90 industry players to the event.

On hand for the signing of the bills in the Oval Office as well as the discussion of the new trade pacts from the White House Rose Garden, Society of the Plastics Industry's (SPI) Bill Carteaux and Jon Kurrle joined President Barack Obama in praising newly enacted trade deals with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia.