Micromold will transfer its 24/7 operations to a 3,000-square-foot Class 8 cleanroom in Arterex’s Formula Plastics division in Tecate, Mexico. Micromold will continue to serve the medical, diagnostics, optical, dental, and laboratory markets, working under the ISO 13485:2016 quality system, said Arterex in the news release. The facility is registered with FDA.

Medical device developer and contract manufacturer Arterex has announced the acquisition of Micromold Inc. Riverside, CA–based Micromold has been supplying custom precision micro-molded plastic parts to medical device OEMs since 1984. The company is equipped with 20 Boy injection molding machines ranging from 10 to 33 tons in vertical and horizontal configurations.

The Informa Markets Engineering network of B2B media sites includes Design News, Battery Technology, Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry (MD+DI), Packaging Digest, PlasticsToday, and Powder & Bulk Solids.

Wittmann Battenfeld will demonstrate its latest injection moulding technology at Compamed, the international medical technologies fair in Düsseldorf on 13–16 November

Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, Wittmann Battenfeld designs injection moulding machines to a minimum emissions level making them especially suited to medical technology injection moulding.

At the Compamed in Düsseldorf, the company will demonstrate its competence in medical technology by producing a micro filter made of POM with an 80 μm grid and a part weight of 1.1 mg, which can be used in micro pumps or inhalators. The micro filter will be manufactured on a MicroPower 15/10 with a clamping force of 150 kN. It is produced in a 2-cavity mould with 3-platen injection.

"Micromold brings with it over 40 years of expertise from mold design to end customer fulfillment services that allows us to expand our services and capabilities to our growing customer base,” said Arterex President for North America, Bill Gerard. “The company is an ideal addition to our offering of high-quality precision injection molded medical components, assemblies, and product design and development services.”

This applies in particular to the MicroPower, which has been specially developed for manufacturing micro parts. This all-electric machine model, designed as a completely enclosed inner cell, is ideally suited for production under cleanroom conditions by the very nature of its design.

The machine on display comes as a full-fledged cleanroom production cell, equipped with a rotary table, parts removal handling device, integrated quality inspection by image processing, as well as a cleanroom module, which produces class 6 clean air according to the ISO 14644-1 standard. The parts are all injected, quality-inspected and deposited inside the cleanroom.

Arterex describes itself as a multi-capability medical device contract manufacturing platform resulting from the combination of NextPhase, Formula Plastics, Kabo, Luc & Bel, and ModenPlast. The company produces Class I, II, and III disposable and electromechanical devices at eight facilities across the United States, Mexico, Italy, and Egypt.

Micromold will continue injection molding plastic parts for medical device OEMs from Arterex’s FDA-registered facility in Mexico.

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The encasement of MicroPower machines also provides sufficient space for the integration of various equipment options, such as a rotary table, robot, material dryers or temperature controllers. All drive modules of the all-electric drive system including all mechanical components are encapsulated in easy-to-clean housings.