Complex injection moulding for medical sector
Modernising customer assets for efficient injection moulding of complex moulded plastics
Modernising customer assets for efficient injection moulding of complex moulded plastics
Medical
UK & international
Established in the UK for over 80 years, our electrical equipment manufacturer client is a specialist in the design and development of equipment for a range of industry sectors, including medical products, printing presses, rewinding and slitting equipment for films and foils, and centrifugal machine tool and circulation pumps.
Medical suction equipment, battery units, pipeline regulators and nebulisers, designed and manufactured in the UK, are used both here and internationally by wards, theatres, surgeries, clinics, paramedics and by those caring for others at home. OF Bell supports our client’s production lines, delivering specialist, hardwearing complex moulded plastic components that are integrated into our client’s technologies for reliable care worldwide.
Following the closure of a previous supplier’s business, our client sought a UK-based production partner to support its manufacturing of medical suction equipment and in particular, the injection moulding of plastic components for use in suction assemblies.
Our client supplied OF Bell with tools which had been used for many years. Our in-house tooling team worked alongside the client to upgrade and modify its 40-year old tooling so it was suitable for use with our modern machinery, avoiding the need to create new tools from scratch and giving new life to these valuable customer assets.
Our exhaust nozzle components form part of a suction unit assembly, through which air and moisture will be passed at both high and low flow rates, and high and low pressure. Injection moulding for the medical sector requires specialist design and manufacture, in particular our choice of plastic compounds used for medical sector components.
OF Bell’s team specified a tough, general purpose acetal plastic material for the exhaust nozzles which offers excellent resistance to moisture whilst remaining tough and durable, whether used for short procedures or extended periods in theatres or other settings.
Produced entirely in-house at our facility in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, using our adapted tooling, quality-assured exhaust nozzle components are supplied on time by our onshore team to meet our client’s manufacturing timescales and customer demand.
Each component is produced on our operator controlled 25T vertical injection moulding machine, with external threading to the client’s correct gauge forming part of the single-cavity tool for efficiency and consistency in every mould, and our complex miniature moulding specialist equipment avoiding degradation of plastics.
Around 1500 units per annum are supplied to our client, which feed directly into its British supply chain for the production of industry-leading suction equipment for medical provision worldwide.
Quality assurance throughout production, using processes developed in partnership with our client, ensure components are manufactured to expected standards with every mould, while our client benefits from low minimum order quantities, no expensive shipping or storage costs and the reuse of its old tooling in our modern machinery for years to come.