Carclo Technical Plastics

Source: Healthcare Digital

Date :01/08/2008 00:00:00

Martin Day explains how flexibility and innovation is driving his business forward

Written by Ellie Duncan and Produced by Paul Radbourne

As part of such an innovative and rapidly developing industry, Carclo Technical Plastics (CTP) must remain at the forefront of the design, development and manufacture of medical and optical devices.

“We’re continually developing our technologies to make sure we’re delivering the highest quality at the best price,” explains Martin Day, European Director of sales and marketing for the company’s medical and optics divisions.

A specialist in bespoke injection moulded components and assembled devices, CTP is a division of Carclo plc and was formed fourteen years ago. Its experience in the medical sector specifically, along with strategic acquisitions and the management team’s background in the field, has helped the business grow globally.

“I think on the medical side we have been particularly successful because we have a long history in the marketplace and we have a number of blue-chip customers in our portfolio,” says Day. “We also have the engineering skills and the global footprint to offer a lot of stability to our customers and the ability to develop new products in a highly innovative market.”

The global acquisition strategy has been key according to Day: “Carclo acquired a number of smaller injection moulding plastics businesses in the 1990s, and then rebranded them into one whole and installed common operating and quality systems into all of them.”

The unique skills of the optics division has meant the company can differentiate itself from its competitors and manufacture products for a similarly dynamic industry.

“Carclo acquired an optical business as part of the acquisition activities about 10 years ago and integrated that business into the technical plastics division – there are a lot of synergies between the medical and optical fields.”

A force to be reckoned with

What has emerged throughout CTP’s growth is a distinctive selling point that sets up the company as a force to be reckoned with in the industry.

“A lot of our customers in the diagnostics market are looking to develop optical systems within their disposable products. That’s where we have a unique capability that differentiates us from our competitors,” explains Day. “We have a team of highly qualified optical designers who can design and develop ground-breaking solutions for our customers.”

CTP manufactures to customer specifications and creates mainly bespoke products, ranging from medical disposables for surgery, to devices like asthma inhalers and diagnostic and eyecare products.

Carclo also invests its own money in R&D and technical developments. Its most recent innovation has been soluble polymer capsules for supply into the veterinary market.

Day explains how this development came about: “We identified that soluble plastics were an interesting development about 10 years or so ago. When they first came on the market, they weren’t capable of being processed via injection moulding.”

Carclo has been working with Agrimin Ltd for nearly three years to undergo the necessary testing, although it seems the wait has paid dividends for the business.

“We started looking for applications and one of the first that came along was in veterinary drug delivery. So we developed the dissolution characteristics of the plastic to make sure the drug capsule would dissolve at the right time.”

CTP’s partnership with Agrimin has helped it enter the marketplace with customers in France, New Zealand and the US showing significant interest.

Stepping forward

Day can reveal that CTP has just won two major inhaler programmes for asthma drugs, although both projects are currently in the development and clinical trial stage.

“CTP is also scaling up the manufacture of a point-of-care diagnostic product,” Day says. “It was developed over a period of three years and it’s now just starting to take off, having launched in the US.”

With so many products in long-term development, Day emphasises the need for CTP to remain in constant communication with its clients. “We support them with long-term supply agreements so that we know there is customer commitment.”

In CTP’s line of manufacturing it is vital that standards are set and consistently met, so the firm has a number of processes in place. “We have a very rigorous quality system,” Day explains. “Most of our operations are certified to ISO 13485, and then our US facilities are FDA registered as well.”

He adds: “When we’re in general production, we use a lot of automation to help production including vision systems to verify production is correct.”

Six Sigma processes are also utilised to formalise improvements in efficiency, quality and cost, according to the sales director.

CTP has facilities located worldwide, although most of its product development team is based in the US and UK. Despite the locality of certain divisions, CTP has its sights set geographically further afield. The firm’s facilities in the Czech Republic and China ensure that CTP can offer customers a low cost manufacturing option. Day reveals the company is also looking to set up in India, as lower cost regions of the world become important manufacturing bases.

CTP is going through an exciting time as it continues designing and developing pioneering products for the medical and optical sectors, enlarging its global footprint as it goes.