MEDICAL PRODUCT OUTSOURCING – October 12, 2016 – “Medical Tubing’s” season premier episode features tight tolerances, multi-lumen, antimicrobials, and much more.
Sam Brusco, Associate Editor | EXCERPT - Some might say tubing manufacturers are the unsung heroes of the medical device industry. Certain devices and instrumentation can’t perform their functions correctly without the ability to transport air or fluid (go on, think of a way to place an IV without a tube connected to the patient), but at the end of the day, it’s not a device’s tubing technology thrust into the spotlight.
OEMs certainly should be singing about medical tubing’s often Herculean labors, and taking into account the impressive array of options tubing suppliers can offer for a device. As medical equipment continues to become smaller, more complex, and reliant on novel materials and manufacturing methods, medical tubing manufacturers are challenged with specifications like remarkably tight tolerances, smaller inner and outer diameters, multiple lumens, co-extruded materials, lubricity, and antimicrobial properties—just to name a few. In order to provide insight into just how complicated manufacturing a seemingly simple tube can be, a half-dozen participants spoke with MPO about current trends and challenges impacting medical tubing.
