A Japanese fluoropolymer manufacturer, best known in the interventional medical space for its peelable FEP Heat Shrink Tubing and PTFE Liners, is answering the call from ‘stressed’ catheter manufacturers, currently experiencing critical shortages in the global supply of vital components.
The company, who has expanded its market share rapidly since establishing Junkosha in both the USA and EU some eight years ago, has announced a major new investment program that aims to help resolve shortages of PTFE Liners and FEP based heat shrink from sources across the market.
Announcing the doubling of the production capacity to strengthen these product areas, Joe Rowan, president and CEO of US and Europe for Junkosha, said: “We are moving quickly to help address the market shortfall in the supply of high-quality PTFE Liners and Peelable FEP Heat-Shrink to global catheter OEMs and contract manufacturers. We believe this capacity expansion will help secure the supply of increased orders from existing customers and many new ones. We will see incremental increases in capacity in early 2022 with a larger impact in the second half of 2022. We are not only targeting our core business of smaller neurovascular and cardiovascular applications but also larger size vessel opportunities such as structural heart. Junkosha as a company has a well-earned reputation for operating a resilient, customer-centric supply chain for all our products. Our brand commitment to integrity and transparency are guiding how we navigate this challenging environment.”
The investment will be rapidly deployed, bringing new equipment online at the company’s Kasama Operations Center. Junkosha’s move to answer these acute customer needs is an acceleration of an already planned capacity increase.
Kazuhiko Arai, director of operations of the Junkosha Group, said: “We are moving quickly, leveraging existing infrastructure in Japan to rapidly bring this capacity online. Going forward, it is our intention to add capabilities close to our valued US and EU customers as we consolidate our commitment to international markets.
“The clinical advances enabled by catheter-based procedures have transformed this sector into a vital industry. Our customers deserve a resilient supply chain which is highly responsive to the impact of unforeseen events. Junkosha’s customers can rely upon our end-to-end supply chain vigilance to help secure and realise their future plans.”