INTERVIEW: ARBURG sees a bright future for injection moulding technology in the medical sector

Ratree Boonsay, Branch Manager of ARBURG Thailand

ARBURG, a German family-owned company, is one of the world’s leading global manufacturers of injection moulding machines for plastics processing. ARBURG Thailand Co., Ltd. has served the Thai market since 2001 in various industrial subsectors, including automotive, health care, electrics and electronics (E&E), and packaging. Ms. Ratree Boonsay, Branch Manager of ARBURG Thailand, recently shared with us the details of how ARBURG has penetrated the medical technology market with its injection moulding machines.

Please tell us your success story since your company’s establishment and how Thailand’s medical technology sector has developed from your point of view.

For the past 20 years, ARBURG Thailand has focused on customer satisfaction as a company commitment. This has been our promise from the first day of business until now, and this will continue to be our goal in order to support all our customers in Thailand. This is our success story and the key to why we are still able to continue business in Thailand.

Injection moulding technology has played an important role in the development of the medical industry in Thailand for more than 20 years. All subsectors of the medical industry have embraced the benefits of plastics and Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) – for example, disposable plastic instruments, syringes, pipette tips, dental drills – which has helped to reduce the spread of infections within the hospital environment. It has also replaced glass in a variety of laboratory consumables, thereby improving lab safety while reducing consumable costs.

What was the key challenge to marketing your machines in Thailand back then? What, when and how did your first products (machines) begin serving healthcare customers here?

We market ourselves as the "Home of Injection Moulding". We entered to the market by providing a complete solution with injection moulding technology for customers. When ARBURG sold its first machines for medical applications, the focus of the Thai industry was more on automation and packaging. Through the years, more customers have started manufacturing medical products in Thailand instead of importing. Our first machines were used to produce electronic parts for medical equipment such as heart defibrillators and scanners.

What are your current products/services/ activities for serving medical industry sector? How do they contribute to the Thai and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) industries and markets?

In terms of products, we can separate them into two different types of product solutions. First is the standard solution for mass production. We provide injection moulding machines that have top quality, reliability, production efficiency and flexibility for the clean room concept. Under this standard solution we offer varieties of hydraulic, hybrid and electrical injection molding machines as well as vertical injection moulding machines as well as vertical injection moulding machines in order to meet the high demand for mass production and all other requirements of medical plastic equipment manufacturers in Thailand and ASEAN markets.

Injection moulding technology has played an important role in the development of the medical industry in Thailand for more than 20 years.

Second is the customised solution. We offer 3D printing with our Freeformer and the ARBURG Plastic Freeforming (APF) technology. This is a unique additive manufacturing method: the open system processes qualified plastic granulates of the same type as those used in injection moulding and it is possible to specifically influence the part properties. In the medical field, research and development as well as hospitals, for example, will benefit from the use of additive manufacturing for fabrication of customised medical products – i.e., medical aids, implant surgery and therapeutic devices – in a fast and economical way.

Furthermore ARBURG provides a consultancy service for all aspects of plastics processing through the company’s application engineer and service engineer. Since the COVID-19 lockdown last year, we have also provided technology transfer through ARBURG medical webinars. We have collaborated with industry experts in sharing knowledge with our customers in the medical industry, totalling more than 200 people across ASEAN.

For the health-care industry, what are the strengths and competitive advantages of your core products/solutions, such as the injection moulding machine?

ARBURG’s strengths are quality, reliability, production efficiency and precision, including:

• Precise and dynamic – direct power transmission with precise spindle gear units;

• Productive – independent drives that reduce cycle times;

• Energy-saving – with liquid-cooled servo-motors that use energy recovery during braking;

• Low emission – no wear, less noise and less waste heat;

• Reliable – highly stable planetary roller screw- drives that are extremely robust,

• Active mould protection – with highly sensitive tie bar strain measurement;

• Less frequent lubrication – less maintenance;

• Environmental aspect – reduced lubricant consumption, reduced waste heat and cooling.

What are your new business opportunities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as your plan for the future?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand tends to have a high growth rate in the medical sector market. In addition, the Government sees itself as the medical hub in ASEAN, and provides tax exemption investment incentives via the BOI channel. Given these main factors, we see opportunities coming in the long-term. Our new showroom in Samut Prakarn – which is the largest ARBURG showroom in South-East Asia – will enable us to provide optimum support to our customers. Customers can trial their mould with our machines and see the result in real time. We also plan to have an ARBURG Prototyping Center in our showroom that will be the same as the one in our headquarters in Germany. Customers will be able to use our machines to research and develop their products before investing.

What is the market trend and support to watch for in medical technology at the local, regional and global levels?

First, I would like to mention Thailand’s ageing population. According to the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council’s forecast, the population aged over 60 years in Thailand will increase from 11.2 million in 2018 to 13.5 million by 2023.

Next, support to watch for is that provided by the Government to promote medical tourism. The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) offers a wide range of incentives. For medical tourism, hospitals will receive an eight-year CIT (Corporate Income Tax) exemption.

As for the trend in innovation and technology for injection moulding machines, at ARBURG we put ourselves forward as one of the solutions. We launched the programmes "arbrugXworld" and "arburgGREENworld". "arburgXworld" covers all digital products and services that will drive towards the digitalization of services and plastic processing and save customers considerable time and costs. "arburgGREENworld" is our activities in relation to the circular economy and conservation of resources in order reduce the carbon footprint over the long term as well as to promote the use of recyclates and bioplastics, which will increase in many areas.

This interview article is contributed by ARBURG Thailand.

Contact details: Ratree Boonsay Branch Manager ARBURG Thailand Co., Ltd. +66 2 130 7882 ratree_boonsay@arburg.com https://www.arburg.com/en/th/