Graham Engineering Corporation Accelerates Delivery of ULTRA Extruders to Address Spike in Production by Medical Tubing Manufacturers
YORK, PA, U.S.A., April 15, 2020: The COVID-19 crisis has generated a sharp upsurge in production capacity requirements for ventilator tubing, causing Graham Engineering Corporation to speed up processes for delivering extruders to the marketplace.
“In the past three weeks we have seen a strong uptick in orders and inquiries from businesses in North America and the Asia-Pacific looking to add capacity for ventilator tubing,” said David Madar, strategic medical market manager for Graham Engineering. “We are responding by validating available inventory, turning quotes instantly, and committing to extruder supply through accelerated delivery. Now more than ever we are here to support the needs of our medical device customers globally, at a time when demands on the medical supply chain have never been greater.”
The expanded production of ventilators is part of the worldwide increase in the manufacture of medical devices to fight COVID-19. Governments and companies are executing elaborate plans to deploy funding and resources for expanding or re-tooling existing operations. Ventilators are essential for supporting patients most severely impacted by the virus.
“In the United States alone, ventilator demand could be as high at ten to fifteen times pre-pandemic levels, significantly outpacing the strategic stockpile and current production capacity,” said Gina Haines, chief marketing officer of Graham Engineering.
Ventilator tubing kits are supplied to hospitals as single-use breathing circuits. A key component of the circuit is corrugated tubing, typically made of medical grade polyethylene or EVA. In adult kits, the standard inside diameter of the tubing is 22 mm.
Graham Engineering Corporation’s American Kuhne product line is a recognized leader in medical extrusion systems, with a 20-year history serving the segment and an installed base of over 500 systems at more than 100 customers in 20 countries. Its systems are designed to extrude tubing and wire jacketing used in medical devices and delivery systems from all medical-grade thermoplastics, include single- and multi-lumen, braided, embedded linear wire, corrugated, and taper tubing.
###
The Graham Group acquired majority interest in American Kuhne in 2012, followed by Graham Engineering Corporation’s acquisition of Welex in June 2013. Together, Graham Engineering, American Kuhne, and Welex create a convergence of leading technologies, people, and capabilities in extrusion. Graham is a privately held company headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, USA.
Graham Engineering is the global standard in wheel and industrial extrusion blow molding solutions, with 400 installations in 20 countries. Graham Engineering offers package design, product development and processing expertise, along with monolayer, multilayer, and barrier extrusion blow molding equipment and technology upgrades. Visit www.grahamengineering.com.
American Kuhne is the preferred provider of engineered solutions for plastics, rubber, and silicone extrusion. American Kuhne solutions comprise standard and custom single screw extruders, feed screws, extrusion systems, and specialized turnkey systems for laboratory, medical tubing, narrow web, wire and cable, pipe, tubing, and profile applications. Visit www.americankuhne.com.
Welex is the global standard in high performance sheet extrusion solutions, with over four decades of leadership. Welex solutions are installed in more than 3,000 customer locations in 69 countries. The company’s innovations include co-extrusion and multi-layer methods that lead the industry as well as dozens of barrier lines installed globally. Visit www.welex.com.
--
Robert J. Martino
Martino Communications Inc.
Tel: 1-203-321-0787
Email: bob@martinocommunications.com
