INJECTION MOLDING AND DESIGN EXPO | SHOW REVIEW
supply chain. With the boost in demand for medical products, clients have cut their expecta- tions for speed-to-market to six months or less, said Christian Herrild, Director of Growth Strategies at Teel Plastics. Customers also want a lot of design support early in a project, said John Budreau, Director of New Business at PTI Engineered Plastics. Adding to the demands on medical manufacturers, clients are asking for extra steps from US moulders because a lot of business is being reshored from China, said Megan Tzanouka- kis, Supply Chain VP, at Sussex IM. Sustainability continues to be the headline topic
Medical needs Mark Gomulka, CEO of Westfall Technik, gave an opening keynote address about the group, which grew rapidly through multiple acquisitions and which now has 18 injection moulding facilities in North America and other regions. Westfall Technik is not just an injection moulder but has a full-ser- vice offering including design, said Gomulka, who became CEO in September 2021. He spoke of the group’s scope as similar to contract manufacturers Nypro (now owned by Jabil) and Flex, where he previously worked with Brian Jones, the founder of Westfall. The group’s approach is centred on reducing the time-to-market for customers’ products, he said. Westfall had a hectic acquisition period in 2018 and 2019 and was moving to a consolidation phase when the Covid pandemic struck. “What Covid did for us was that it brought the company together,” said Gomulka. It did not stand still in 2020 but took the opportunity to implement a cross-company platform. This involved consolidation of some medical moulding sites, the addition of 60,000 sq ft clean room space across facilities, investment in 45 new injection moulding machines and creation of the company-wide Westfall BOS IT system. Westfall has also invested in automation across
its production sites. Gomulka spoke about its development of a proprietary press-side automa- tion system which has capabilities for inspection, sorting, degating and flash trimming among other features. He said 30 such systems are currently deployed across the company’s operations in low-volume, high-mix environments which can run lights-out with no operators, where previously 120 people were needed in total.
In a panel discussion on medical and healthcare
at the Injection Molding and Design Expo, partici- pants noted the Covid pandemic’s effects on the
www.injectionworld.com June 2022 | INJECTION WORLD 27
for packaging moulders, although there was a hiccup in the past couple of years. The pandemic caused a slowdown in the sustainable packaging projects of brand owners, although they have now started to collaborate again with manufacturers, said Millie Nuno, Director of Business Development at Hoffer Plastics. She was a participant in a panel discussion on trends in packaging design, which ranged over tamper-evident closures, labels and other topics. “Brands are moving from lightweighting to rightweighting,” said Thierry Fabozzi, President & CEO at Plastic Technologies Inc, who noted thin-gauge packaging tends to be littered more. Design-for-recycling was discussed by the panel- lists, including John Manderfield, Innovation and Design Fellow at Altium Packaging, who said brand clients don’t always want to follow the recyclability guidelines published by the Association of Plastics Recyclers.
Staff shortages
One panel discussion was devoted to the problem of staff shortages, which has affected almost every company in the North American injection moulding value chain, exacerbated by changing labour market dynamics during the pandemic’s peak. Craig Carrel, President and Partner at Team 1
Below: Training and develop- ment session during the exhibition
Left: Visitors came to Injection
Molding and Design to do deals
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