Recent technological developments in the medical sphere have boosted demand for medical devices with complex parts, precise designs, and tight tolerances that operate efficiently while retaining a high return on investment for manufacturers.
Medical device production increasingly must balance achieving large-volume production runs while maintaining a high standard of quality for each individual product.
To satisfy both demands at once, medical device manufacturers have turned to plastic injection molding, an assembly line technique that involves creating precise molds for desired products and then injecting them with the plastic of your choice. A much faster option than most metalworking, production utilizes plastic materials that are more lightweight and malleable yet equally durable compared to metal.
Consumption Spikes for Plastic Resins
Between 2009 and 2010, a Mastio & Company report found that plastic resin use in medical manufacturing jumped from 664 million lbs. to 693.5 million lbs., and consumption has only grown since then.
Frost & Sullivan recently corroborated this finding: by 2012, medical device manufacturers used up to 1,370 million lbs. of plastic resin, generating $1 billion in total revenue.
And while researchers are still calculating the exact figure, they projected that 2018’s gross earnings for medical plastic injection applications will total more than $1.45 billion, backed by a robust annual growth rate of 5.2%.
Future Growth of Injection Molding in Medical Applications
The enhanced medical device precision provided by injection-molded plastic materials results in higher-quality parts than machined metals as well as lower prices and increased customization potential. Increased growth is expected as researchers continue to refine the plastic injection molding process, especially for use in medical applications.
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