Raumedic highlights medical extrusion and molding capabilities at MD&M East

A supplier of extrusion, molding and assembly services to medical device OEMs, Raumedic has a new story to tell MD&M East attendees next month. The company, headquartered in Helmbrechts, Germany, opened its first production facility in the United States in April 2016, and it is eager to explain to visitors at booth 1902 how the combination of German and American engineering can benefit their product pipeline. MD&M East, co-located with PLASTEC East, will be held on June 14 to 16 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Raumedic has invested approximately $11 million in the 60,000-square-foot facility in Mills River, NC—its first outside Germany—which includes a 13,000-square-foot ISO Class 7 cleanroom. The company plans to spend another $16 million on the high-tech development and production facility by 2022.

At MD&M East, the company also will highlight its core competencies in medical extrusion and molding along with its materials expertise, and it will show how all of these capabilities can converge effectively in the development and manufacture of a specific medical device.

Raumedic has developed processing capabilities to co-extrude a variety of metal wires and glass fibers within tubing walls. The company can co-extrude and work with copper, stainless steel, Nitinol, platinum alloys, nickel- and silver-plated wires in combination with a range of polymers, including polypropylene, polyethylene, nylon, polyurethane, silicone and high-performance resins (FEP, PEEK, PPSU, PEI and PTFE Moldflon).

By co-extruding wires within the tubing walls instead of stringing them manually through multi-layer tubing, fabrication costs can be significantly reduced. 

Raumedic has developed specific expertise in extruding tubing using PTFE Moldflon, a thermoplastic material that can be processed from the melt, a major advantage in terms of economy and processability compared with conventional PTFE, according to the company. The process is especially advantageous for long, continuous tubing production runs, and allows for co-extruding radiopaque stripes and for secondary operations, such as tipping and flaring, without experiencing side effects such as flaking and cracking.

Raumedic also will feature a gynecological device (pictured) at its booth that illustrates its capabilities. The tubing set consists of various components that are produced in multiple production steps. Following extrusion, the tubing is cut-to-length and assembled to various connectors. A 100% bond-strength test is performed to ensure that tubing and connectors are correctly linked together. All of the components are produced in-house by Raumedic, with extrusion, molding, cutting and assembly (bonding) operations all coming into play at various points in the process.