REPRINT. of MEDPLAST 17 by the company HB-THERM, St. Gallen NEW TECHNOLOGIES COST EFFICIENCY ENHANCED MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Transcription

1 NEW TECHNOLOGIES COST EFFICIENCY ENHANCED MARKET OPPORTUNITIES 2017 SPECIAL EDITION OF THE PROFESSIONAL JOURNAL PLASTVERARBEITER REPRINT of MEDPLAST 17 by the company HB-THERM, St. Gallen

2 tools and moulds temperature control units Picture source: B. Braun 54 B. Braun s Escholzmatt production site in Switzerland Manufacture of disposable medical products Temperature control units ensure quality in medical engineering A world-renowned manufacturer of medical equipment is focussing its attention on the production of plastic disposable products at one of its locations in Switzerland. Manufacturing is taking place continuously in a three- If a company is so well known in specialist circles that even product designations are actually based on its own name, then we are entitled to assume Plastverarbeiter shift operation. In order to ensure consistently high product quality and as little waste as possible, the company is directing particular attention to mould temperature control, a field in which it is cooperating with a that we are dealing with a trend setter within the particular segment. B. Braun is Europe s leading supplier of medical products, product systems Swiss-based manufacturer of temperature control units. The partners future plans also include integration of temperature control units into injection moulding machine control. and medical services. When it launched the world s first single-part indwelling venous cannula in 1962, the device was simply referred to as the

3 tools and moulds temperature control units 55 Braunüle. Based in the small town of Melsungen in Hessen, B. Braun s reputation has now spread far and wide. Today it employs 58,000 staff in 64 countries across all continents. The group has maintained a subsidiary in Switzerland since 1973, and its cooperation with HB-Therm of St. Gallen in the field of temperature control also dates back to this time. Quality, precision and cleanliness are all top priorities in the manufacture of medical products. The whole production cycle consists of a series of vital quality cogs, all of which need to mesh in order to end up with a perfect medical device. During the entire history of the whole group, which now stretches back for a period of almost 180 years, B. Braun has never lost sight of this vital requirement. Involvement in Switzerland Together with many other basic principles, this fundamental premise also underlies the commitment shown by B. Braun to Switzerland as a location. Everything began in Escholzmatt in 1973 at a time when only ten people were employed in the manufacture of disposable plastic medical products. However, development proved to be continuously positive virtually from the outset. Production increased on an ongoing basis, and a facility extension over a footprint of 15,700 square metres was established as early as The premises in Escholzmatt are still standing today, and in 2005 were extended once more to provide an extra 8,150 square metres of space. Web-tip Plastverarbeiter market overview of temperature control systems Trend report on temperature control units Lifetime warranty on heating elements Short-URL: /52871 Bildquelle: B. Braun This three-way tap in lipid-resistant plastic is used in intravenous therapy. The most recent expansion of the manufacturing and administrative site took place in 2016, and its total area now stands at 31,000 square metres. Alongside Escholzmatt, B. Braun s Swiss-based subsidiary boasts three further locations in Crissier, Lucerne and Sempach. These offer infusion solutions, a central sterilisation plant and disinfectant and hygiene products respectively. In addition, Sempach is home to the company s Registered Office in Switzerland. In 2016, overall sales in Switzerland were million Swiss Francs. At the end of the same year, the company employed a total of 987 staff across all locations. Total turnover for the B. Braun Group reached around 6.47 billion in 2016, an increase of 5.6 percent compared to the previous year. Plastverarbeiter

4 56 tools and moulds temperature control units Detailed information on the manufacturer HB-Therm Founded in 1967, HB-Therm is a Swiss family-run company which is one of the world s leading manufacturers of temperature control equipment. It currently employs around 120 people and regards itself as a system supplier that provides perfect support for its customers all the way from equipment design through to seamless after sales service. Production takes place solely in St. Gallen. HB-Therm is represented around the globe by subsidiaries in Germany and France and by agents in 40 other countries. The quality and environmental management system of the company is based on achieving continuous improvement of all processes and is certified in accordance with the ISO 9001/14001 standard. Disposable medical products from Escholzmatt IIn Escholzmatt, the company focuses on the manufacture of plastic disposable medical products. Its portfolio includes perfusor syringes in various designs, port systems for drip bags and infusion accessories such as three-way taps and valved manifolds. In turn, Escholzmatt supplies the group. This means that most products will find their way back to the company s central warehouse in Melsungen, Germany. The end consumers are hospitals and clinics all over the world. Because the B. Braun Group manufactures 95 percent of its own products, quality requirements are extremely high. Madeleine Stöckli, CEO of the Swiss-based company B. Braun Medical, remarks: Quality awareness is also one of the most important aspects within the production process in Escholzmatt itself. We are completely committed to the constant enhancement of all processes. Measures deployed for this purpose encompass quality certifications, ongoing and systematic process improvement and permanent quality control of all raw materials, production procedures and end products. Plastics is a good case in point. The granulate needed as the basis for the whole of the manufacturing chain at Escholzmatt is sourced exclusively from certified suppliers. The final product is thus traceable all the way Injection moulding machine for the manufacture of plastic components used in intravenous therapy. The various parts produced include port systems and a dosage device which sits at the hose connection between the infusion bottle and the three-way tap. Between one and four temperature control units are installed at each IMM Plastverarbeiter

5 tools and moulds temperature control units 57 back to the raw material originally used. Cooperation with manufacturer of temperature control units The material processed and produced in Escholzmatt from the very beginning also laid the foundations for cooperation with HB-Therm. Indeed, cooperation arrangements have been in place ever since B. Braun entered the Swiss market. Injection moulding in Escholzmatt uses Series 4 and Thermo-5 machines from HB-Therm in St. Gallen. This temperature control equipment operates continuously across three shifts to ensure the very highest component quality. More than 250 temperature control units are deployed across the whole of the B. Braun Melsungen Group s production operations Three-way tap with high stress crack resistance One of the speciality products manufactured in Escholzmatt is Discofix C, a plastic three-way tap component used in intravenous therapy to open or close a connection to more than one infusion medium. The particular property of this part is its high degree of stress crack resistance. This makes it extremely durable against aggressive drugs such as those used in the treatment of cancer. Because of this and other characteristics, Discofix C was awarded an Innovation Recognition Prize by the Central Switzerland Chamber of Commerce in In order to ensure output of a consistently high quality, temperature within the mould needs to be precisely managed and maintained. Achieving cost-effective production across a multi-shift system with low levels of manpower and during zero-personnel periods means that rejects must be avoided. Because the HB-Therm machines work extremely reliably and deliver unique combined benefits, we deploy them across all our production processes, states Samuel Bertschi, Head of Innovation. Monitoring of flow rate as well as main and return line temperatures mean that HB-Therm units are ideally suited to a high-end production facility. A completely closed cooling circuit is a further advantage. This enables the units to be used in a clean room manufacturing environment directly next to the machine, thus providing even better operational convenience and access. Therefore, these temperature control units allow us to maintain and enhance product quality. Areas of future potential B. Braun and HB-Therm are also collaborating extremely effectively in Switzerland in areas that go beyond the direct production process itself. For example, the Escholzmatt-based expert team very much appreciates the specialist advice it receives as well as a reliable and rapid spare parts service for maintenance and repair purposes. Efforts here are directed to minimising production downtime so as to avoid any delay in delivery. The existence of such a well-established cooperation agreement over so many years means, of course, that both companies are looking at further plans to be realised together in future. AUTHOR Uwe Becker is the Managing Director of Ubcom Kommunikationsmanagement in Bad Endbach. office@ubcom.cc CONTACT DETAILS HB-Therm, St. Gallen, Schweiz, info@hb-therm.ch Plastverarbeiter

6 HB-THERM AG Spinnereistrasse 10 (WU 3) Postfach 9006 St. Gallen Switzerland Phone , Fax Subsidiaries HB-THERM GmbH Dammstrasse Siegburg Germany Phone , Fax HB-THERM S.A.S. La Grande Vaupière Saint-Jean-de-Thurigneux France Phone Fax commercial@hb-therm.fr, Distributors Australia (AU) Parrington Group Pty. Ltd., Magill SA 5072 Austria (AT) Luger Gesellschaft mbh, 3011 Purkersdorf Belgium (BE) AJ Solutions BVBA, 2240 Zandhoven Brazil (BR) HDB Representações Ltda, Cotia (SP) China (CN) ARBURG (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai ARBURG Machine & Trading, Shenzhen Dongguan Cenglary Trading Co., Ltd., Dongguan City Tianjin Cenglary Trading Co., Ltd., Tianjin City Jiangsu Cenglary Engineering & Trading Co., Ltd., Kunshan Devel. Dist. Croatia (HR) Luger Gesellschaft mbh, 3011 Purkersdorf Czech Republic (CZ) Luger spol. s.r.o., Ricany Denmark (DK) SAXE Hansen, 3500 Værløse Estonia (EE) Telko Estonia OU, Tallinn Finland (FI) Engel Finland Oy, Helsinki France (FR) HB-THERM S.A.S., Saint-Jean-de-Thurigneux Germany (DE) HB-THERM GmbH, Siegburg Hong Kong (HK) ARBURG (HK) Ltd., Quarry Bay Hungary (HU) Luger Kft., Budapest 1147 India (IN) Salnik Solutions, Mumbai Indonesia (ID) ARBURG Indonesia, Jakarta Ireland (IE) KraussMaffei (UK) Ldt, WA5 7TR Warrington Israel (IL) SU-PAD Ltd., Rosh Ha ayn Italy (IT) Nickerson Italia Srl, Brembate di Sopra (BG) Japan (JP) ARBTECHNO Ltd., Iwaki Korea, Republic of (KR) IMTS, Seoul Latvia (LV) Telko Lativia SIA, 1026 Riga Liechtenstein (LI) HB-THERM AG, 9006 St. Gallen Lithuania (LT) Telko Lietuva UAB, Kaunas Luxembourg (LU) AJ Solutions BVBA, 2240 Zandhoven Malaysia (MY) ARBURG Sdn Bhd, Petaling Jaya Mexico (MX) Engel Mexico S.A. de C.V., El Marques, Querétaro Netherlands (NL) ROBOTECH bv, 4824 AS Breda New Zealand (NZ) AOTEA MACHINERY LTD., Auckland 1145 Poland (PL) ELBI-Wrocław Sp. z o.o., Wrocław Portugal (PT) Netstal Máquinas, S.A., Mollet del Vallès Romania (RO) Plastic Technology Service Srl, Bucuresti Singapore (SG) ARBURG PTE LTD., Singapore Slovakia (SK) Luger spol. s.r.o., Ricany Slovenia (SI) Luger Gesellschaft mbh, 3011 Purkersdorf South Africa (ZA) GREEN TECH Machinery Ltd, 1709 Quellerina Spain (ES) Netstal Máquinas, S.A., Mollet del Vallès Sweden (SE) Forvema AB, Kinna Switzerland (CH) HB-THERM AG, 9006 St. Gallen Taiwan (TW) Morglory International Co., Ltd., Taichung City Thailand (TH) ARBURG (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Samutprakarn Turkey (TR) ARBURG Plastik Enjeksiyon, Yakuplu-Büyükçekmece/Istanbul United Kingdom (GB) KraussMaffei (UK) Ldt, WA5 7TR Warrington United States (US) Frigel North America, East Dundee, IL 60118