Medical Device Link.

OUTSOURCING NEWS

Apec president Anura Welikala anticipates growth in China.

More and more companies are seeing the benefits of catering to the Asian market for both the manufacturing and selling of medical devices and related components. Apec, a designer and manufacturer of medical device components, has opened a new facility in China to support its existing medical OEM customers and the burgeoning Asian market. Apec Asia will function as a full-service, high-volume medical molding facility with 35,000 sq ft of manufacturing space and a Class 100,000 cleanroom.

The company has been shipping medical components to Asia for the past four years but sought an opportunity to serve the Asian market with locally manufactured parts.

“China is becoming one of the largest markets, and medical products [can provide] an enormous opportunity for growth here,” says Apec president Anura Welikala.

The new facility was expected to be fully operational by March. It is located in Shenzhen, in the Guangdong province of China. The site was chosen for the large technical workforce in the surrounding area and for its proximity to the shipping ports of Hong Kong.

Also expanding in the Guangdong province is Loparex, a manufacturer of release papers, films, and blown film for the medical industry. Although the company has had a presence there since 2004, its Guangzhou facility has added a new extrusion line specifically for polycoated release liners. With many of the company’s clients starting production in China, the new extrusion unit will give OEMs the opportunity to have a local supplier.

Design and manufacturing firm Apec opened a facility in China to serve its medical device customers in the area.

“Our product range is now expanded to one- and two-sided LDPE, HDPE, and PP-coated liners that can be printed in-line with customers’ designs,” says Tapani Laakso, sales director of Loparex Asia Pacific. “We have release liner products to offer especially to the medical industry.”

A Class 100,000 cleanroom assembly area has been installed at Sanbor Medical’s 120,000-sq-ft production plant in Xiamen, China. The site is ISO 13485 certified and has FDA registration status. Sanbor Medical (Allentown, PA) works with FDA-registered contract sterilization facilities to supply sterilized single-use disposable devices. The company is also a contract manufacturer of box-build and PCB assemblies, instrumentation, molded plastic parts, and other mechanical and disposable components and subassemblies for the medical device industry.

Watlow plans to cater to the budding Asian market with its facility in Shanghai.

Watlow, a custom designer and manufacturer of heaters, controllers, and temperature sensors, has opened a new manufacturing facility in Shanghai. The new facility will serve as the manufacturing hub for tubular heaters. Company representatives again stress the importance of catering to the budding Asian market.

“Watlow recognizes China as a dominant player in the world market and is committed to serving the region,” says John Gross, director of operations. “We feel it is an important step in our customers’ growth of their business in Asia.”

Also making moves in China is Vishay Intertechnology Inc. (Malvern, PA), a manufacturer of electronic components used in devices. The firm recently received two awards from the country’s electronics industry based on market share, technology, and product quality. Vishay was named China Component Leader in both the resistor and capacitor categories. ChinaECNet and the China Electronics Fair cosponsored the awards.