Natech expands injection moulding and cleanroom capability

Natech Plastics has expanded its capacity and capabilities by introducing six new pieces of equipment in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Natech has added two ARBURG injection moulding machines to its headquartered location in Ronkonkoma, now having a total of 16 presses. This facility houses an ISO Class 8 Cleanroom, engineering and design services, and secondary operations. The two machines, alongside the cleanroom, will be used to manufacture medical and diagnostics products to support medical device and biotech start-ups in need of injection moulded plastic components and finished devices.

Compared to less advanced injection moulding machines, the new Arburg machines allow for deeper insight and increased control over process variables. Because the machine, conveyor and robot are all integrated, it streamlines the manufacturing process.

Natech’s cleanroom maintains cleanliness throughout the manufacturing process, from the moulded part to the final assembled product.

Mike Botta, engineering manager, said: “In a post-COVID world, demand is high for quality medical devices. We want to serve our customers as expeditiously as possible.”

Across the plastics industry, the average age of an injection moulding machine is 15 years, but Natech aims to keep their machines new and below the industry average, so they can produce parts as reliably and quickly as possible. The new machines have a high degree of precision and reduce lead time, which is crucial for the medical device and diagnostics industry.

Natech adds four new filling and sealing machines to its cleanroom space. The machines were custom-designed and built for Natech. They have a modular, interchangeable design that allows for a variety of processes (filling, capping, heat sealing) to run on a single machine. A built-in shuttle allows filled product to be easily transferred to the sealing station.

Natech’s engineers must conduct process validation for each product that requires filling and sealing. The purpose is to quantify the repeatability and long-term stability of the process being run. This involves testing different process variables like pressure and dwell time and developing process windows for the individual processes being run.

One application for these machines is the filling and sealing of containers that house extraction buffers, which are then used downstream for rapid COVID-19 antigen tests.