Medical, systems business propel expansion at Foboha

The manufacturer of high-end injection molds says it is busily adding more space to its headquarters facility in Haslach, Germany as a result of increasing demand from the medical device and medical packaging market, among other end-use markets.

Officials at Adval Tech Foboha say the extension building for application engineering will be ready in October 2011. With this new expansion, the acceptance area at the company for custom molds will now be enlarged by 750 m² to a total of 1750 m².

Helping drive the need for the new space is the growth in the company's "system business", in which it supplies not only an injection mold but also handles complete system acceptance, including a 100% production simulation. Molds, part removal devices and downstream automation equipment are integrated in the acceptance station. Foboha develops and builds many of these automation systems and mold-specific handling devices in-house.

The 100% inspection controls also included a closed cooling systems and a measuring laboratory for testing and documenting the injection moldings in compliance with customer specifications.

Medical engineering, another area boasting strong growth, calls for acceptance procedures under cleanroom conditions or conditions near to those. These requirements have also been taken into account in the extension building. Access to these special departments is permitted only for personnel wearing protective clothing.

The moldmaker says it also can handle pilot projects with pilot-series production runs - if necessary, in three-shift operations falls. The company owns injection molding machines with clamping forces from 800 kN to 5000 kN. Foboha's Cube Molds (see photo) sell well into the medical parts' packaging market, according to the company.