Flame Retardant Epoxies and Silicones Meet Critical Safety Requirements
Designed to mitigate the worst effects of fires, fire retardant materials play a particularly important role in aircraft construction. Used in aircraft, epoxies and silicones must maintain their primary role as adhesives or coatings while exhibiting resistance to heat and flame in accordance with government a

Dark Marking with Picosecond Lasers
Ultrashort pulse lasers create high contrast dark or black marks that are resistant to passivation, corrosion, and autoclaving and that meet federally regulated UDI standards for medical devices. 

Utilizing Automation to Keep Made in USA Electronics Assembly Cost Competitive
Most companies outsource manufacturing to lower costs in one form or another. Often there are tradeoffs in achieving that cost savings. For example, moving a project offshore may lower the cost of labor while increasing logistics and inventory cost. This drives a balancing act in terms of assessing advant

Aligning Product Development Teams and a Contract Manufacturer: Five Issues to Consider
While the production aspect of the electronics contract manufacturing model is fairly uniform across the industry, the engineering support aspect can vary widely. And while some assume contract manufacturer size influences its engineering resource strength, that isn’t always the case. At EDM, an electroni

The EMS Partnership: Four Areas to Audit
The term, “partnership” gets bandied about in electronics contract manufacturing relationships a lot. Both electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers and their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers have differing views. The complexity of the EMS relationship is what sets it apart in the

Laser Stripping for Medical and Electronics Industry
Automated laser processes increase production efficiency, process control, and product innovation

Reducing Airborne Particulate During Manufacture of Prefilled Syringes - Whitepaper
As demand for prefilled syringes in the pharmaceutical industry continues to increase, the packaging industry has recognized the need for a greater understanding of airborne particulate risks associated with coated drug delivery packaging systems. This study sought to test and demonstrate variances in particu

Time to Onshore? Four Offshore Costs You Probably Aren't Considering
Most companies that outsource have projects with a variety of characteristics. Product maturity, labor content, variations in demand, annual volumes, regulatory environment and required supply chain competencies all influence regional build site strategy. In some cases, it makes the most sense to outsourc

The Goldilocks Problem - Cell Selection for Emerging Applications
When designing a battery pack for a new device, a common question that engineers may find themselves asking is "Which is the best cell to use for my application?" When choosing the cell for a battery, an engineer must decide what variables are most important to the final application of the battery and mu

The New FDA Draft Guidance for Biocompatibility of Certain Devices in Contact with Intact Skin: The Naughty and Nice list
In October 2020 FDA released a new draft biocompatibility guidance document which focuses on the biological evaluation of devices in contact with intact skin. As a draft document, it is therefore open for comments and possible changes. Release of this guidance signifies another step from FDA toward their 3R a

Rapid Product Development: Four Areas to Audit When Selecting a Contract Manufacturer
The battle against COVID-19 has created a niche need for companies able to support product development cycles that cut months off traditional product development timelines. Achieving that speed should not translate to abandoning the quality control checks and balances necessary to meet regulatory requirem

Case Study: Tekni-Plex Medical solves quality issue for OR generator
A contract manufacturer for a generator that powers forceps used in neurocranial surgeries was having significant quality challenges with its prior tubing set. Sporadically it would find that the bonds between the tubing were either too strong or too weak; the OD was not being consistently held causing over-m

What’s So Special About Silicone Adhesive?
Silicone adhesive use in the medical market has expanded exponentially in the last decade. The fact that these unique PSAs adhere well to metals, silicone parts, rubbers, low surface energy (LSE) substrates and sensitive skin are just a few of the reasons.

Self-Monitoring
As Demand for Self-Monitoring Devices Surges Custom Converters Need Release Liner Experts

Release Liners for Skin Adhesives
Fox River Associates continues to grow premium release liners for skin friendly adhesives. Whether you are attaching a monitoring device or protecting a wound from infection; the release liner plays an important role in the product’s performance.

The Designer’s Guide to Preventing Overcurrent in Medical Devices: Ensuring Product Safety for Device and User
Circuit protection devices serve two main purposes that are essential to medical equipment, safety and reliability, by disconnecting power in a circuit during overcurrent.  Learn the ins and outs of circuit breakers, fuses, and how to best protect equipment from overcurrent in The Designer’s Guid

How to Select the Right Circuit Protection for Your Medical Device
With so many circuit protection device types, design choices, and configurations, making the appropriate selection for your specific medical equipment can feel daunting – especially with staff and patient safety on the line. How to Select the Right Circuit Protection for Your Medical Dev

Building Quality In: Four Ways Your Contract Manufacturer Should Be Eliminating Defect Opportunities
When a company outsources manufacturing, its electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider becomes an extension of its reputation as far as quality is concerned. Consequently, in selecting an EMS provider, it is important to evaluate potential supplier’s quality culture. An obvious focus is quality contro

Learn How to Lower The Surface Friction of Medical Devices Using Biocompatible Surface Modifying Additives
You can optimize medical device performance, safety, and biocompatibility with surface modification. For many applications, surfaces are often modified to impart anti-thrombogenic, antimicrobial, anti-fouling or lubricious properties. However, Hydrophilic or Hydrophobic coatings can be associated with chal

The Case for Outsourcing: Business Benefits
Mention electronics contract manufacturing or outsourcing and the picture that immediately comes to mind is manufacturing that is being done by another company for a unit price. Some view this relationship as being similar to relationships with other purchased part suppliers. An original equipment manufacture

Benefits of Precision Link Conveyor Manufacturing
Motion Index Drives, Inc. line of precision link conveyors are built to be the heart of a linear manufacturing machine requiring high accuracy, speed, and quality. The precision link conveyor is a conveyor designed to have an automation process done on it, from start to finish. The conveyor indexes a precise

Checklist: Adhesion Failure Root-Cause Analysis for Manufacturers
While the prevalence of adhesion technologies has increased significantly in manufacturing, the knowledge required to achieve predictable, consistent performance has not kept up. Nor have the methods of finding the things that cause inconsistencies, setbacks and failures of adhesion. This checklist

How to Streamline Process Design to Production for Medical Devices
Among all of the challenges particular to medical device manufacturing, one of the most frustrating aspects can be clearing the chasm between product development and production. This is where oversight groups can make progress sluggish but also provide necessary checks on the process that ultimately result in

Extruding High-Performance Thermoplastic Filaments for 3D Printing
Utilizing IPE’s vast experience with a variety of polymers to engineer an advanced thermoplastic extrusion solution, that is faster to make and more cost effective, to replace metals and thermoset materials in critical applications for use in 3D printers.

Case Study: Tekni-Plex Coextruded Barrier Structures Enable Commercialization of Emerging Drug Therapies
Multilayer flexible film for sterile liquid reservoirs relies on tie resins to optimize the extractables and leachables profile

New to Outsourcing? Five Areas Your Team Should Audit
Companies that regularly outsource normally have well-developed systems in place for evaluating potential electronics manufacturing services (EMS) partners and a standardized process for transferring projects. Conversely, companies new to outsourcing face a learning curve with every step of the process. A

Leverage Key Suppliers for Consolidation
Market trends are driving significant consolidation within the medical device industry. OEMs are collaborating with suppliers that can provide solutions for multiple steps in the supply chain thereby: *Freeing up capital* Reduce workload*Increasing quality control*Improving

The Importance of Choosing The Right Plastic
Choosing the proper plastic for your injection molded component can be challenging. There are hundreds of raw resins to consider, and you must decide if the project will require an additive (like a flame retardant or UV stabilizer) and/or a colorant. Some combinations can be mixed at the resin supplier’s faci

A Closer Look At Electrical Tests
In one of our previous posts, we discussed the importance of product testing in manufacturing. In this article, we’ll focus on the most common types of electrical tests. Hipot Testing Although many of the tests required by safety certifications like UL or CSA are performed

The Basics of Stepper Motor Control
The Basics of Stepper Motor ControlDue to their durability, reliability, efficiency and availability in standardized sizes and mounting options, stepper motors are widely used in industrial automation, robotics, and new niche consumer products like desktop 3D printers. In this article, we’ll talk about the ba