Plastics News - Medical

Friday, July 04, 2008

Medical

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Ideal Tool gets new owner, somewhat-new name
MEADVILLE, PA. (July 2, 12:35 p.m. EDT) -- Joint Venture Tool & Mold LLC has acquired Ideal Tool Co. Inc., picking up new capabilities in molding, more employees, a larger customer base and a new home and name.

Armada relocates to nearby facility
TEMECULA, CALIF. (July 1, 10:25 a.m. EDT) -- Custom thermoformer Armada Industries Inc. has moved about a mile in Temecula into a facility it´s leasing from Western Plastics.

Mastercraft Cos. names new management
PHOENIX (June 27, 4:40 p.m. EDT) -- Mastercraft Cos. is using a midyear lull to restructure its management ranks and target injection molding and tool-building opportunities in medical and other markets.

Auto molders may find lifeline in medical
YORK, PA. (June 27, 3:55 p.m. EDT) -- As the auto market in North America continues to struggle due to the economic slowdown, foreign competition and gas price hikes, injection molders that supply the industry are losing margin. The solution for them may be switch to the medical-molding business, a high-margin, economic-downturn-insulated and outsourcing-resistant sector.

Deal lets Synergetics bring molding in-house
O´FALLON, MO. (June 26, 6:10 p.m. EDT) -- Medical-device maker Synergetics USA Inc. of O’Fallon has purchased injection molder and toolmaker Medimold Inc. for $80,000.

Herman Miller turns to patient seating

The Nala chair

CHICAGO (June 25, 7:05 p.m. EDT) -- Herman Miller Inc. is looking to bring its experience in both design and comfort out of the office and into the hospital. The company that changed the look of high-end executive seating with its plastics-intensive Aeron chair has introduced two new treatment chairs designed to change the way patients and medical professionals alike think about furniture.

Medical molders thrive; strong growth expected

TPE stoppers

NEW YORK (June 20, 1:10 p.m. EDT) -- Despite the sluggish U.S. economy, plastics companies in the medical business are optimistic that they will achieve double-digit growth when 2008 numbers are tallied, several said at Medical Design & Manufacturing East. Plastics are making gains against other materials used in the medical market, and some processors are benefitting as original equipment makers outsource molding.

Apon buys remaining stake in Cycles JV
SAN DIEGO (June 17, 6:50 p.m. EDT) -- Injection molder Apon Industries Corp. paid $500,000 June 9 to buy out its partner’s 50 percent interest in Cycles-Apon Inc. Apon also recently purchased a building near the Mexico border to do assembly on some work from its maquiladora.

Univac expands mold offerings

SINGAPORE (June 16, 10:40 a.m. EDT) -- Molder and mold maker Univac Precision Engineering Pte. Ltd. of Singapore has taken a license in SpinStack multicomponent mold-making technology from Gram Technology ApS of Birkerød, Denmark. Univac wants to use the Gram technology to expand the tools it builds for exporting, for the medical and health-care and caps and closures markets.

Private equity firm buys major stake in Hadlock
GENEVA, OHIO (June 13, 4:40 p.m. EDT) -- Capstone Capital Partners has secured a majority interest in composites producer Hadlock Plastics Corp. for undisclosed terms. The investment is Capstone´s first in the plastics industry.

Nypro opening new Tijuana plant soon
NEW YORK (June 13, 11:35 a.m. EDT) -- Nypro Inc.’s new 160,000-square-foot medical products plant in Tijuana, Mexico, will begin operating this month, and the company expects to transfer all the work from its nearby plant to the new facility by February.

UPG expanding, upgrading plant in Mexico
NEW YORK (June 11, 5:30 p.m. EDT) -- United Plastics Group Inc. has begun work on a 45,000-square-foot addition to its plant in Monterrey, Mexico, that will make it the company’s second-largest facility, after its site in Suzhou, China.

Tekni-Plex hires CEO, finishes restructuring
SOMERVILLE, N.J. (UPDATED June 5, 11:15 a.m. EDT) -- Packaging and tubing maker Tekni-Plex Inc. has completed a financial restructuring and appointed a new chief executive officer. The new CEO is Paul Young, an industry veteran who joins Tekni-Plex from Graham Packaging Co. LP.

Crescent Industries adds clean room
NEW FREEDOM, PA. (June 2, 9:50 a.m. EDT) -- Crescent Industries Inc. has installed a Class 10,000 clean room in its New Freedom custom injection molding and assembly plant.

Nypro plant slated to close in fall
LOUISVILLE, KY. (May 29, 5:10 p.m. EDT) -- Nypro Inc. said today it will close its Louisville injection molding plant as part of an ongoing consolidation of its automotive business. The plant, with 180 employees and 57 injection molding presses, will close by the end of September.