How Thermoforming and Plastics Have Transformed Healthcare

Modern medical devices often exhibit the latest and greatest of our cutting-edge technological advances. These healthcare products regularly receive additional scrutiny during the development and design stages to ensure they function according to precise specifications. However, the cosmetic finish and aesthetic appeal of your parts require the same due consideration from designers.

While product complexity will undoubtedly continue to increase, thermoforming parts and enclosures keep rising in popularity across the healthcare and medical device sectors. This trend is because of the flexibility, precision, and efficiency it brings to product development cycles. Although plastics revolutionized the medical device manufacturing industry, product teams frequently have to resort to fabricating sheet metal exteriors if injection molding becomes cost-prohibitive at lower volume production runs.

With Kenson Plastics, the repeatability of our thermoforming process lets you achieve the desired fit and finish (including textures) as injection molding at a more cost-effective price point under these circumstances.

How the Thermoforming Process Improves Medical and Healthcare Device Manufacturing

When you look at the latest innovations in medical devices, you’ll quickly notice the integral part plastics play in the design. Whether it’s for benchtop machines or wearable therapy systems, plastics allow designers to overcome the inherent design limitations found in other materials like metal or fiberglass

The challenge for manufacturers is balancing the functionality of the design against the unit’s manufacturing cost. If you’re producing large volumes of products, injection molding helps to keep costs down, even if it requires a larger, upfront investment. When volumes drop and specialization increases, thermoforming becomes the better option for your device’s design.

Why Opt for Thermoforming in Your Medical Device Manufacturing Process

Thermoforming works by heating a sheet of plastic until it’s pliable enough to mold using a pressure-forming process and then utilizing precise machining to accommodate fastening and fit through secondary operations. You gain the freedom to design a housing or complete assembly with the exact fit and finish you desire without sacrificing accuracy or repeatability.

Kenson Plastics helps manufacturers that need:

• An optimized manufacturing process – We help designers to dial in their manufacturing process with 3D scans to match the design against the thermoformed parts
• Repeatability and precision – Our process enables manufacturers to maintain the required precision of the tolerance stack-up and ensure the precise fit of every part
• Enhanced finishing and superior materials – Thermoforming can produce products that have the required material properties, including fire resistivity or EMI shielding.

EMI shielding is a key concern for medical device manufacturers. Ensuring devices operate safely while maintaining the convoluted shapes required in the design often requires specialized material selection for your plastic enclosures. Once again, a thermoforming process can alleviate the design limitations inherent in enclosures, extrusions, and housings that use sheet metal or other materials.

Thermoforming Complex Parts for the Healthcare Industry with Kenson Plastics

Kenson Plastics uses a controlled process that conforms to the highest quality standards required in the medical manufacturing industry. We can support product teams who require plastic medical parts for all kinds of devices using thermoforming technology that surpasses other assembly and manufacturing processes, especially when you need to produce lower volumes at an optimized cost per unit. Thermoforming allows you to design products within a precise tolerance stack-up with material properties required for your latest healthcare devices and medical products.

If you want to see how we can assist with thermoforming your medical and healthcare product parts, contact us here.