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Case study: Europlaz drives sustainable change with Sumitomo (SHI) Demag's machinery

Key Highlights:

Europlaz

Spurred on by being awarded the Silver Ecovardis Medal in 2023, high-end medical device manufacturer Europlaz continues to drive positive and sustainable production changes. The Essex-based company’s repeat order of three flexible, high-performance and energy-efficient all-electric IntElect2 machines from Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, each featuring different clamp forces, mirrors its Quality In; Quality Out business ethos. 

Manufacturing and assembling class I, class II and Class III medical devices annually, all three Sumitomo (SHI) Demag machines have been installed, creating new production cells to increase capacity and manufacture new product streams. This latest machine order follows another significant rise in medical, diagnostic and life science project wins.  

Europlaz commercial director Rory O’Keeffe reflects on how the UK drug delivery device market is evolving and what’s driving the company’s investment in equipment that is so closely aligned to their sustainability credentials.  

Research by Mordor Intelligence anticipates that the UK drug delivery devices market will register a CAGR of 22.81% in the next five years. Much of this growth is being driven by rapid technological advances in non-invasive products, along with advances in materials, manufacturing processes and digitally connected devices. This is coupled with an aging population and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, diabetes and cancers requiring pain and medical management.

Additionally, the shift in the delivery of traditional institutional healthcare services to homecare as the UK attempts to alleviate the economic burden on the NHS and social care will inevitably lead to the development of new medical and drug delivery devices.  

Regional medical director of the Global Sumitomo (SHI) Demag team Andrew Sargisson concurs, reporting that the machinery manufacturer has observed a stronger leaning in the medical market towards larger strategic and more complex projects, such as drug delivery devices and pen style injectors. This, Sargisson suggests, is predominantly due to the global growth in diabetes care, where demand for advanced glucose monitoring and insulin delivery devices is propelling innovation. Testament to demand, credible industry reports forecast that the diabetes device market will surpass USD 68.2 billion by 2032, almost triple its 2022 value.  

Trends of the times 

Parenteral drug administration continues to grow, in part due to technological advances, more favourable government policies and a shift towards more sustainable, eco-friendly products. Used in emergency care as well as everyday treatment, the most common applications include insulin, vaccines, antibiotics, and analgesics. Europlaz has also observed an increase in demand for its own total intravenous anaesthesia sets (TIVA), Tivatek, as it can be easier to administer, is more environmentally friendly than inhalation respiratory alternatives and typically offers a better recovery profile.    

Europlaz

Drug administration systems are sophisticated products. Developing the tools and setting up production processes requires time, high technical proficiency and manufacturing expertise.  The increased demand is likely to prompt additional capital spending to accelerate developments safely and increase production capacity within medical manufacturing facilities.  

Topical drug delivery systems are also poised for further strong growth. This is mainly attributed to the non-invasive way that localised treatment can be delivered. Segmented into pulmonary, oral, injectable, nasal, ocular, topical, implantable, and transmucosal drug delivery, industry R&D insiders are especially excited about the advances occurring in inhaler-based drug delivery devices. In particular the future of reusable inhalers to reduce carbon footprints. Comprising nebulisers, pressurised metered-dose inhalers (pMDI), and dry-powder inhalers (DPI), to enhance patient safety there has already been a drive towards using new and more innovative regulated materials with a better flow and high impact strength to mould components. 

One thing all of these applications have in common is their need for total accuracy and zero defects during the moulding process. To support these advances and in order to meet the explicit quality management and validation ISO 13485 standards for medical devices, Europlaz intentionally selected the Sumitomo (SHI) Demag brand as the company is well-respected and known in medical circles as being a reliable, high performance top-tier machinery supplier.

“Many of our customers know the Sumitomo (SHI) Demag name well. Given the sustainability details we have to submit when preparing tenders, the reliability and energy efficiency statistics we can present certainly corroborates the advantages of actively selecting the IntElect series,” attested Europlaz technical director Ian Goodacre. 

At the start of this year Europlaz took delivery of two IntElect2 75T machines, one a 110 injection unit with a 22mm assembly and the other a 65 injection unit with a 18mm and additional 14mm assembly. Combined with the IntElect2 100T machine with a 250 injection unit and another two further screw sizes - 40mm and 25mm - Europlaz has all of the in-built flexibility to accommodate their expansive and ever-growing medical device tooling estate.  

Having the option to rapidly switch between five screw sizes (14, 18, 22, 25 and 40mm) ensures that the optimum screw size is selected to suit each application’s shot weight. Additionally, the IntElect2’s large platen design means that the Europlaz team can fit tools with up to eight cavities that might previously have required a larger tonnage and more energy intensive machine. 

The IntElect2 75/420-110 has a shot capacity of up to 35.9g in PP. The IntElect2 75/420-65 has a micro-moulding shot range of less than 1g through to 14.5g in PP. Putting this into production context, Ian confirms that that 75T machines gives Europlaz the clamp flexibility to take on most medical moulding projects. 

Adding the 100T configuration extends the tie bar distance to 470mm, enabling Europlaz to accommodate mould tools ranging from 180mm to 550mm in height. “Between these three machines we can essentially mould components of any shot weight, using any tool, from the widest variety of medical-grade polymers,” extolled Goodacre. 

A special Titanium Nitrate (TiN) coated 25mm screw assembly for the 100T IntElect was also sourced to support the high-quality processing of a cyclic olefin polymer (COP).  

Supply chain sustainability 

With just three years to go before NHS suppliers need to meet the emissions reporting deadline, improving manufacturing credentials and being more resource efficient is even more imperative. With 12 machines in the Europlaz fleet now upgraded to all-electric, the medical device contract moulder reports that it has reduced energy use on each unit by between 30% and 60%.  

“There are big gains to be made by opting for more efficient machinery,” stated O’Keeffe. But for Europlaz, and indeed the medical device market, acting more sustainably is more than just business sense. It’s about taking pioneering steps and making changes now to protect the future. “Energy consumption is a large part of the burden on medical device development. By targeting the ‘quick wins’ with short returns on investment you can see the real benefit of these changes and build steam for bigger changes,” added the commercial director. 

Goodacre agreed stating that although machine reliability is the ultimate measure of efficiency, processing quality is the true measure of value: “Quality leads to greater customer satisfaction, higher operational efficiency and zero product recalls, and even increases in productivity, innovation and workforce engagement. This is why we hold these IntElect2 investments and the Sumitomo (SHI) Demag team in such high esteem.” 

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