Mack also announced that it has formed a new business unit dedicated to orthopedics and disposable medical devices. "We have seen customer growth in this market sector, so we felt it necessary to establish a group that will focus solely" on it, said Dwalin DeBoer, who is heading up the unit.
In another move, Mack is doubling laser welding capability for the orthopedic surgical case and tray market with acquisition of a Litron Series 30 Welding System, which Mack said is tailor-made to laser weld its preferred bracket design for holding surgical instruments. The advantage of the laser weld is an hermetic seal that is cleaner than traditional riveting approaches.
The Fanuc CNC programmable system can fuse materials into a continuous weld bead up to 12mm. It will be installed at Mack's headquarters plant next month.
Powered by a Trumpf laser, the welding cabinet can accommodate a work piece of 19.5 inches in the X coordinate, 11.5 inches in the Y coordinate, and 10 inches in the Z coordinate.
With the expansion, Mack will operate 126 injection molding machines ranging in size from 28 to 5,000 tons of clamping force. Barrel sizes range from 0.6 to 800 ounces. The larger presses are concentrated in Mack's Southern Division. Total annual sales are about $300 million.
