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A catch up with the newly appointed CEO of Applied Plastics

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MPN editor Laura Hughes sat down with Thomas Barrett, the newly appointed CEO of Applied Plastics, a coating solutions specialist company.

What differences will your appointment have on Applied Plastics and its customers?

Since joining Applied Plastics in June, I’ve seen firsthand how great of a job Dave Ring and his team have done growing this company and continuously providing superior quality coated components to the largest OEM catheter manufacturers for over 60 years.

In recent months I’ve become more familiar with market demands and our customers’ highly engineered components and product specifications. We are committed to exceeding our customers’ quality and product requirements and plan to grow our capacity of advanced catheter components in 2020, including PTFE Natural mandrels and pull wires. Additionally, you can also look forward to exciting customer and engineering-focused updates to our website in 2020.

How will you ensure the company stays up to date with the latest trends in the catheter market?

It’s no surprise the industry is moving towards smaller diameter devices focusing on more complex end therapies. Applied Plastics’ customers include the leading medical device original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers who are focused on high growth microcatheter segments, such as electrophysiology, neurovascular, peripheral vascular and transcatheter aortic valve replacement. We partner with our customers in order to understand the end-use application, and then we incorporate our proprietary wire preparation and coating processes with our equipment which are able to meet the demands for tighter tolerances.

Additionally, since being acquired by Vance Street Capital in January 2019, Applied Plastics will be able to continue to invest in the business in order to help accelerate our strategic growth plans which are required for us to be a key supplier to the minimally invasive device market.  

What do you think are currently the main challenges within the catheter market for plastics manufacturers?

Applied Plastics provides manufacturing capabilities and the trademarked PTFE natural coating solutions to produce multiple parts such as:

All of the above are key components to the manufacturing of medical devices used in vascular interventions. We are continuously challenged by our original equipment manufacturer customers’ robust lubricity needs and tight tolerances, which enable catheter technologies delivering stents and balloons to seamlessly travel through the anatomy, increasing the probability of a successful procedure.

We meet these challenges by utilising our custom-built equipment and processes in order to delivery consistent, high quality components.

What changes do you predict for the catheter market?

This is a really exciting time to be on the forefront of the development of life-saving systems and devices. It will be fascinating to see how plastics manufacturers continue to improve manufacturing processes to hold tighter and tighter tolerances and thin-wall thickness requirements from the innovative design engineers in the industry.

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