Delivering tomorrow’s med-tech systems

Nolato is a global leading partner in the development and manufacture ofcustomer-specific medical devices, mobile phone components and specialist packaging products. Philip Yorke spoke to Christer Wahlquist, the company’s president of Nolato Medical, about its focus on meeting the future challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry and its continuing investment in the world’s fastest growing markets.

Nolato Medical forms a major part of the Nolato Group’s business activities and specialises in the development and manufacture of polymer components and devices for the pharmaceutical and Medical device industry. The Nolato Group was founded in Sweden in 1938 as Nordiska Latexfabriken i Torekov AB and operated under the trademark Nolato, which remains its trading name today. The group is divided into three distinct business divisions: Nolato Medical (medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging); Nolato Telecom (components and subsystems for mobile phones); and Nolato Industrial (for the development and manufacture of components for the automotive, forestry, white goods and packaging industries).

Today Nolato is a major global player in its chosen disciplines and is headquartered in Torekov, Sweden, with production facilities located in Sweden, UK, Hungary, Romania, China, the USA and Malaysia. In addition, the company has sales offices in France, Germany, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. The Nolato Group employs more than 8000 people worldwide and in 2014 recorded sales of more than €460 million. The company is also quoted on the NASDDAQ OMX Nordic market stock exchange.

Focus on product development

Co-creation of innovative solutions in partnership with clients is at the heart of Nolato’s well proven business model. Working in close partnership with Nolato Medical from the early development phase can be a key factor for success. The company’s breadth and depth of understanding of manufacturing technologies for medical applications, combined with its unrivalled experience, enables it to create costeffective, optimised solutions that ensure optimal quality and efficacy.

Nolato Medical offers a well-established project structure with clearly defined project management protocols where the cornerstones of the development phase include extensive analytical simulations for product function, moulding and assembly processes, assembly design, risk analysis, research planning and process evaluation. Together with its in-depth knowledge of injection moulding, these resources provide secure and robust volume production.

Wahlquist said, “The solutions we provide for our OEM customers are designed to increase efficiency and reduce their costs and we work on a one-to-one basis in close collaboration with them. Our 50 years of experience in advanced medical technology operations has given us a firm foundation in cutting-edge expertise, especially in the development and production of polymer products for our marketleading medical technology and pharmaceutical customers.

“We always endeavour to develop long-term and close working relationships with our customers, because the better we understand their processes and needs, the greater is the value that we can create for them. Furthermore, close proximity to our customers is important, both for us and for our customers’ and we are therefore open to establishing production facilities wherever a customer is located anywhere in the world.

“This way we can reduce investment risk and that of lead times by utilising existing production units. We have R&D capabilites in every manufacturing plant and on every site we have robust quality and development expertise. As part of our strategy for growth we are open to acquisitions providing they match our high standards and ethical processes. Not long ago we acquired a leading UK pharmaceutical packaging company, Cope Allman Jaycare, which specialises in Pharma packaging and has sales of more than SEK 270 million, which in turn has opened the door to a wide range of international pharmaceutical companies for us.

“Another important factor in our on-going success is our policy of decentralisation, which empowers local companies to do well and to use their own expertise and local knowledge to achieve their goals.”

Global expansion

Nolato Medical continues to expand its global interests and recently significantly expanded its operations in China. This expansion has involved the construction of an additional 2200 square metres of high-tech production facilities. More than 800 metres of which will be devoted to the creation of state-of-the-art clean-room facilities of the highest standard in accordance with ISO 14644 –1:1999, class B.

Today China is the fastest growing market for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, which means that more and more of the company’s customers are expanding their own production capabilities in China. Nolato Medical has been active in China since 2008 and overall Nolato Medical operates around 25,000 square metres of clean-room capacity in a range of classes at nine facilities located in Asia, Europe and North America.

The company is also increasing its Hungarian production facilities and is expanding its capacity by a further 3700 square metres. “Our Hungarian operations have grown substantially in recent years and we need to expand our resources in order to continue meeting our customer’s production requirements,” commented Nolato’s president and CEO, Hans Porat. “The extension also creates even better fundamentals for efficient production.”

User-friendly pharma packaging

Nolato Medical’s Pharma packaging offers a full range of primary plastic packaging for both prescription and over-the-counter medicines covering all dosage forms from solids and liquids to creams and powders. Through its innovative research, development and close cooperation with its customers and external partners, Nolato Medical pharma packaging contributes significantly to making the delivery of all medications safer and easier for patients to administer.

Knowing the extensive requirements of its customers the company focuses on providing a high level of compliance and documentation of its products. In general all Nolato products provide full conformity with the European Pharmacopoeia as well as those of the USA. n For further details of Nolato Medical’s latest innovative products and services visit: www.nolato.com