Johnson Matthey Medical Announces ...( Company incr...),Health

Company increases precious metal tubing production capacity by 50%

West Chester, PA (PRWEB) December 5, 2008-- Medical Device Contract Manufacturer, Johnson Matthey Medical has announced the expansion of its Precious Metal tubing production capacity due to increasing demand for its Platinum and Platinum-Iridium electrodes and marker bands. Precious metals - Platinum, in particular - are characterized by a high temperature melting point, fine electrical conductivity, biocompatibility and resistance to corrosion. As a result, Platinum and its alloys are undergoing increased useage in medical implant applications such as ring electrodes for electrophysiology (EP) catheters, shocking electrodes for defibrillator leads and radiopaque markers for catheters.

"The medical device market is expected to grow an estimated 10% to over $300 billion in 2008 while the EP catheters market - a primary use for our electrodes and marker bands - is growing at 16% CAGR," says Dave Vincent, JM Director, Business Development. "In order to meet that demand, we have added new drawbenches to be used in the manufacture of small diameter medical tubing and increased our equipment capacity for tubing in the range of .020" to .100" OD, with wall thickness .001" to .010" by 50%. The new lines, which occupy approximately 1000 square feet in our West Chester, Pennsylvania facility, will be fully operational by the end of November, 2008."

Johnson Matthey Medical's seamless tubing for radiopaque marker bands and other applications conforms to stringent tolerances and quality standards. All melts are analyzed using Spark Ablation ICP to measure alloy and impurity concentrations. Cutting processes include Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM), CNC Screw Machining, Precision Laser Cutting, Tubing Cutting and other processes. Inside diameters measure 0.0045" (
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