COVER STORY
AS NEW OPPORTUNITIES EMERGE, MEDICAL INJECTION MOULDING CAN TURN TO LOCAL PRODUCTION AND INTEGRATED SYSTEMS SAYS THOMAS BONTEMPI HEAD OF MEDICAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT HUSKY INJECTION MOULDING SYSTEMS.
CAPITALISING ON LOCAL
MANUFACTURING OPPORTUNITIES
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Integrated moulding systems deliver major benefits
edical injection moulding continues to enjoy strong growth as worldwide demand increases for medical devices, according to industry observers. New business opportunities are emerging globally as the industry expects medical device sectors to see compounded annual growth of greater than 10%. The rising prevalence of chronic disease and the ageing population are the key market drivers. In addition, emerging economies with higher GDPs are seeing increasing expenditures for healthcare. Another major influence has been the COVID19 pandemic, which has spurred the explosive growth of lab consumables for testing, vaccinations, and other diagnostics. Among the growing business opportunities are pipette tips and blood collection tubes, utilising integrated manufacturing approaches which assure the highest levels of certainty, scalability, and fastest time-to-market.
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LOCALISED PRODUCTION IS A TOP PRIORITY Skyrocketing demand for medical devices during the pandemic resulted in major supply disruptions. One issue that resurfaced during the COVID-19 outbreak was the realisation that 85% of the world’s countries rely on imports of medical devices and components.1 The imbalanced supply situation existed previously but the pandemic accelerated demand and raised concerns about worldwide shortages of medical products — many essential in the fight against the virus. To counteract future uncertainty and ensure supply, many political and governmental initiatives have made the creation of local supply chains a top priority. According to McKinsey & Co. more than 90% of medtech multinational companies (MNCs) expect greater localisation in the industry after the outbreak.2 Meanwhile, about 60% of medtech MNCs believe that local manufacturing will be favourable for business success. The scenario presents lucrative opportunities for both existing players and new entrants. The looming question is whether manufacturers will be prepared to capture these new business opportunities. IDENTIFYING THE HIGH-GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES Clearly, processors and end users are poised to capitalise on potential growth applications. Selecting the right application means balancing the risk and opportunity. Making a risk/rewards evaluation is important in selecting business opportunities that present a reasonable risk and complexity level, combined with high volume for fast payback. Amidst the pandemic, the production of pipette tips, blood collection tubes, and prefilled syringes have emerged as high-growth tracts that are ripe for expanded penetration. Pipette tips — which dispense medical fluids and liquids — are a high-volume application which are predicted to see a 9.7% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2025.3 Growth opportunities are fuelled by COVID-19, nationalisation, and demand for quality parts. Pipette tip design has several critical quality criteria including dimensional tolerances, part filling (especially below 0.5-mm wall thickness), concentricity (run-off or run-out), inside and outside flash, and insert split lines positioning. Another promising application is blood collection tubes which have seen dramatic growth due to the need for pandemic-related products. They consist of a PET tube, an HDPE closure, and a rubber stopper. Tubes are delivered ready-to-use to the end user for specific sample analysis with features such as labels, vacuum sealed to draw a specific volume, and prefilled with reagent. Key design requirements include dimensional accuracy, no brittleness, transparency, oxygen permeability, vacuum maintenance, water vapour permeability, and gate quality.
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