More Machines Mean More Molding for ATP

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ATP Engineered Rubber and Plastic Group's white room at its Elkhorn, WI, facility, where the company offers a range of injection molding services.

In a push to increase its presence in the medical device manufacturing market, ATP Engineered Rubber & Plastics Group (Philadelphia ; www.atperpg.com) has made several changes to two of its five molding facilities. Both the Elkhorn , WI , and Tempe , AZ , facilities have implemented new equipment, as well as Six Sigma training programs, in an effort to expand the company's manufacturing and inspection capabilities, as well as to increase production.

Automated visual inspection systems were recently incorporated into both facilities. The systems look for--and isolate--nonconformities in molded products such as flash, inclusions, and underfills. Typical applications for this technology include inspecting seal components, such as trocar seals and duckbill valves. However, ATP also plans to use the systems to branch out into the manufacture of syringe plunger tips, injection sites, and luer-tip caps.

Acquired this year by the Tempe facility were two ultrasonic welders, bringing the facility's total number of welding machines to nine. The Tempe facility also invested in a programmable coordinate measuring machine for the measurement of intricate components in a matter of minutes.

The Elkhorn facility has its own time-saving tactics. It is involved in a joint venture with ATP's rubber and plastic molding facility in Guangdong , China . As a result of this partnership, the Elkhorn plant can have tooling manufactured in China and delivered to Wisconsin ready to install, reducing costs and time to market. The Elkhorn location specializes in molding rubber, silicone, and organic polymers, and offers overmolding, gateless molding, and design and prototyping services. The Tempe facility, which specializes in injection molding, also offers overmolding services, and recently expanded its capabilities to include gas-assist molding.