5 Questions for Dunn Industries at Medica/CompaMed 2019

Once again, I find myself wandering the many halls of the Medica and CompaMed trade events. Between checking out the latest and greatest from the medtech elite, discovering new firms displaying their first products at the show, or catching up with those I’ve met before, I took a moment to reach out to representatives at several companies exhibiting at the medical device gathering this year. Hopefully, these questions provide useful information for anyone unable to meet with them at the event or those who are not headed to Germany this year. With that in mind, Dan Lazas, senior director at Dunn Industries, a Tekni-Plex business, shared the following insights to help you determine if the firm is a potential services partner for you in 2020 or beyond.
 
Sean Fenske: What technology or service are you emphasizing at Medica/CompaMed this year?
Dan Lazas: Precision multi-lumen tubing for steerable catheters commonly used for robotic surgery and laparoscopic or endovascular devices. Often, this type of tubing includes one or multiple inner lumens for working channels, and small lumens around the perimeter that are used for steering wires.
 
Dunn also manufactures custom medical tubing for diagnostic and interventional devices from a wide range of thermoplastics. Additionally, medical catheter manufacturers throughout the world use Dunn’s mandrels to retain critical lumen tolerances during the manufacturing (extrusion, braiding, coiling, and jacketing) of minimally invasive catheter shafts.
 
Fenske: What’s the most common challenge customers inquire about and how do you address it?
Lazas: To reach more distal sites inside the body, catheter diameters continue to reduce. At the same time, inner catheter diameters must be maximized to perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This results in ultra-thin wall sections with very tight tolerances. Usually, these catheters are made from very soft materials that are difficult to extrude in thin-wall sections. Our precision extruders, tooling, and processing procedures are designed to meet the challenging requirements for these types of extrusions.
 
Fenske: If you could give one piece of advice to companies seeking a manufacturing partner before they make a decision, what would it be?
Lazas: For challenging catheter tubing, such as small diameter multi-lumens or thin-wall parts, choose an extruder with experience in these types of parts. They should be able to provide a sample of a similar part manufactured previously. Also, they should be able to manufacture small volume prototypes for evaluation.
 
Fenske: What are the forces driving medical device manufacturers to seek your technology/services over doing it in-house?
Lazas: Using tight tolerance tubing is critical for minimally invasive devices. Medical device manufacturers come to Dunn because they know we are expert manufacturers of exactly the type of tubing they need for their minimally invasive devices to perform optimally.
 
Fenske: In what ways is your company able to aid in getting a product (project) to market faster?
Lazas: It comes down to our expertise, which enables us to deliver the right tubing, the first time. Our attention to detail and our tight tolerance production ability helps medical device manufacturers meet their demanding timelines.
 
Dunn Industries, a Tekni-Plex business, is located at Medica/Compamed in Hall 8A, Booth/Stand F12.