5 Questions for Parker Precision Fluidics 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, Paul Nierman, division engineering manager at Parker Precision Fluidics, 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?
Paul Nierman: We will be featuring two of our newly released products. The first is the Helix pump—a compact, high pressure pump designed to enable the smallest point-of-care instruments. Delivering more than 5.5 LPM flow and pressure up to 100 PSI (6.9 bar), the Helix pump provides the best solution for bench-top diagnostic devices where performance is critical and space is limited.
 
The second featured product is our new Ultra Low Carryover valve. The Ultra Low Carryover Valve uses a patent pending approach to increase throughput and reduce liquid waste by reducing the wash times required to eliminate carryover. Additionally, the valve has the ability to reduce fluidic circuit complexity by replacing one or more valves with the single Ultra Low Carryover Valve.
 
Fenske: What’s the most common challenge customers inquire about and how do you address it?
Nierman: Customers often come to Parker Precision Fluidics seeking help selecting the right miniature fluidic components for their new instrument designs. Parker has both the products and expertise to help with this need. Parker can also be a partner in the design of the fluidics portion of the instrument to help the customer optimize the performance of their system.
 
Fenske: If you could give one piece of advice to companies seeking a manufacturing partner before they make a decision, what would it be?
Nierman: Find a partner with both the right experience and the right breadth of products to help you solve your fluidics challenges.
 
Fenske: What are the forces driving medical device manufacturers to seek your technology/services over doing it in-house?
Nierman: By working with Parker on the fluidics portion of their instrument design, they can leverage our experience and deep knowledge to quickly optimize their fluidic systems, allowing them to focus on the rest of the instrument. This can lead to better outcomes and shorter design cycles.
 
Fenske: In what ways is your company able to aid in getting a product (project) to market faster?
Nierman: Parker Precision Fluidics has extensive experience in designing fluidic circuits for medical device manufacturers and a wide breadth of products to cover the fluidic needs of these devices. By partnering with Parker, companies can quickly come to an optimized design that reduces instrument size, increases instrument throughput, improves assay accuracy, and reduces liquid waste disposal costs.
 
Parker Precision Fluidics is located at Medica/Compamed in Hall 8A, Booth/Stand M15.