Joe Shackley, marketing manager from the Guardtech Group, explains why things will look a little different on its stand for the award-winning company at Med-Tech Innovation Expo 2022.
First, you came to Med-Tech Innovation Expo in September 2021, how did you find it?
I thought it was great. It was my first experience of all the exhibitions last year, after the pandemic curtailed them all in my first year with Guardtech, and it was a pleasure to finally meet so many people from the industry face to face. We were looked after really well by the Rapid News team, the set-up and takedown was particularly good, and it was nice to see so many interesting businesses, products and services from the medtech industry and beyond.
What’s bringing you back for more in June?
We have been coming to the show for a few years now and there was nothing to put us off returning again. We are planning to attend as many events as we can in 2022, with a smaller scale set-up this time around, and the opportunity to meet more key people from the medtech sector (a very important area for our business) simply couldn’t be missed.
It has been an exciting period for Guardtech with the recent formation of Guardtech Group, does this mean that visitors can expect a different offering this time around?
They can expect a different look, that’s for sure! We won’t be using our custom stand this year – which is a shame because it featured cleanroom panels and was made from the same materials as our Isopod Rapid Cleanrooms, so it was an amazing conversation starter. But it will be much easier for potential clients to visualise how our products and services relate to their needs going forward – whether it’s a comprehensive cleanroom build, modular cleanroom, controlled environment pre-fab pod, rapid cleanroom or portable cleanroom that they require, the Guardtech Group divisions make it super simple for customers to get what they need without any confusion.
Who are you looking to connect with at this year’s show?
It would be nice to make some new connections among the UK’s amazing raft of medical device manufacturers. We built a few cleanrooms for firms in that realm last year – making really cool things like autoinjectors and tubing assemblies – and our newly acquired business Cleanroom Solutions has a rich history of building controlled environments for medtech innovators, so it would be great to line up some more business in that area of Life Sciences for the coming year.
Give our readers a brief insight as to what’s different about your cleanroom offering?
What’s great about the Guardtech Group is that we cover a really broad, diverse range of areas in the controlled environment game, with exceptional knowledge and expertise, yet we do so with a family business core at the heart of it all. We do everything from turnkey construction right down to the furniture & equipment in these cleanrooms, we validate and commission them, we provide innovative cleanroom products, yet the business is led by a father and son and their close friends. We’re not a corporate juggernaut, yet we apply the same level of quality to everything we do that you’d expect from a leading company in the industry.
How long have you had a footprint in the medical device sector for?
Guardtech has been providing cleanrooms and cleanroom-related services to medical device manufacturers for more than 20 years now. We’re excited to see what the future holds for an industry at the forefront of scientific innovation and look forward to providing many more world class cleanrooms to firms who need the best possible environments in which to take their important work to the next level.
Med-Tech Innovation Expo 2022 takes place on 8-9 June. To plan your visit, or to exhibit with us, visit www.med-techexpo.com.
