TPi March 2023

Business & market news

Tube extruder aids productivity at Vesta Thermoplastics

The MEDD’s interchangeable barrel assembly, ease of maintenance and operator accessibility have been notable. This design is specific to clean room environments, providing a replaceable feed section liner and direct drive technology for bottom line efficiency and materials flexibility. Stainless steel surfaces, quick change capabilities and a broad

Vesta Thermoplastics, a Lubrizol Life Science Health (LLS Health) company, and supplier of tight-tolerance extrusions for the medical industry, recently installed a Davis-Standard MEDD extruder to augment the company’s existing Davis Standard HPE extruders. The MEDD has helped Vesta increase productivity, alleviate potential backlogs and address shorter lead times for the company’s portfolio of thin-wall tubing, multi-lumen, and coextrusion products. This includes tubing and devices that support single-use and long-term implantable applications such as neurostimulation, feeding and drainage tubes, catheters and vascular loops. “We’ve had a lot of success with our HPE extruders, and the MEDD has been a welcomed addition. We bought this machine during 2022 MD&M West since the show is only 30 minutes from our facility, making delivery very convenient,” said Steven Mayol, senior process engineer at Vesta Thermoplastics. “Installation went smoothly and the MEDD is already proving to be a good investment. Being able to exchange barrel sizes when necessary and having the capacity to run a variety of high-temperature polymers is essential to our business model. We pride ourselves in delivering extrusion tubing that no one can challenge, including extrusions that involve new polymers.”

The MEDD has helped Vesta increase productivity, alleviate potential backlogs and address shorter lead times

polymer range enable the tubing consistency and reliable performance Vesta needs to serve current and emerging medical markets. Vesta’s innovation encompasses lead tubing, balloon tubing, custom extrusion, PEEK extrusion, braided tubing, striping and multi-layer coextrusion, multi-lumen, heat shrink tubing, rapid and bump extrusion. Mr Mayol also commented on Davis-Standard’s personalised approach to service. “Davis-Standard has been exemplary with timely, customer-centric service. Their troubleshooting support has also been helpful whenever we’ve needed it,” he said. “This includes designing the right feedscrews for our polymer range to address targeted outputs with excellent melt quality and product consistency.” Davis-Standard www.davis-standard.com After its phase one trials, Essentra Components has announced that a number of products within its LDPE range are now manufactured almost entirely from recycled materials. The selected products are made from 98 per cent recycled plastic with the remaining two per cent being made up of colourants. The selected product range consists of tapered caps and plugs, corner protectors, tube end plugs and tube end caps in what is described a significant step forward in sustainability and carbon reduction. The products are part of a two-phase project that aims to increase as many of Essentra Components’ LDPE range from the current up to 50 per cent composition to the new 98 per cent composition. Phase two of the project is currently undergoing quality assurance testing and is expected to be released in the coming months. The new milestone is the latest in a series of sustainability test successes, with Essentra Components recently announcing its core LDPE range has seen its recycled material content increase from up to 40 per cent to up to 50 per cent. The new range is already available to customers and will be manufactured primarily in Essentra’s Kidlington factory in Oxford, UK. Essentra Components www.essentracomponents.com Increased recycled content within LDPE

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