TekniPlex Healthcare installs new medical tubing lines in Costa Rica plant

Inside TekniPlex Healthcare’s Costa Rica facility. Photo Credit: TekniPlex Healthcare

Medical technology developer TekniPlex Healthcare is investing in new medical tubing extrusion lines and downstream equipment as part of a 40,000-square-foot expansion of its Costa Rica facility.

In a May 16 news release, officials with Wayne, Pa.-based TekniPlex said the new medical tubing extrusion equipment will be installed in a cleanroom environment at its existing facility in Cartago. Expected to begin operation by the end of the second quarter, the continuous closed-loop feedback extrusion system will help drive tighter tolerances at high manufacturing speeds, the release said.

The expansion also will help business continuity capabilities by building upon the company’s existing medical tubing manufacturing operations in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and China.

The expansion of the Cartago plant will more than double TekniPlex Healthcare’s capacity for micro-extrusions, quad tubes, thermally bonded paratubing, and advanced multilayer co-extrusions for complex drug-delivery applications within Costa Rica, which has emerged as a medical manufacturing hub, TekniPlex officials said.

The project also will provide some additional floorspace to allow TekniPlex Healthcare to move warehoused inventory from an off-site location to a newly constructed building adjacent to its current facility. This centralization will improve workflow, and pave the way for an additional planned expansion in the coming years, the release said, with part of this new space being apportioned for expanded assembly capacity and capabilities to meet growing market demands for premium medical device components, the release said.