Engineers and medics meet and 3C and Medtec

Published: 23-Mar-2011

Birmingham NEC plays host to the UK cleanroom exhibition 3C on 6 – 7 April. Organiser UBM Canon promises a bigger show with Medtec, Mtec and the new MDM show alongside. Sue Birks reports

Birmingham NEC plays host to the UK’s main cleanroom exhibition, 3C, on 6 – 7 April. Organiser UBM Canon promises a bigger show with Medtec, Mtec and the new MDM show alongside. These shows are predicted to deliver more than 3,500 key design and manufacturing engineers and decision-makers across two days. This year a new trade exhibition devoted to engineering and manufacturing in the Midlands region joins the event. The Midlands Design and Manufacturing show covers technology and services for automation equipment, vision systems, machining centres, leak-testing equip-ment, vacuum technologies and electronic components. It provides a platform to liaise with UK manufacturers from vertical markets, such as aerospace, medical, automotive, defence, rail and telecoms.

One of the main attractions at Medtec UK is the two-day conference, providing medical device professionals with insights into topics ranging from regulation, intellectual property, risk management and process validation through to innovation and project management, materials and coatings. In particular, delegates will be able to hear a keynote address from NASA on how space-born technologies are now finding their way into advanced medical devices and applications.

3C will have the usual free on-floor presentations and seminars unveiling new design and manufacturing technologies that can improve products and processes.

Among the exhibitors at 3C are:

Felcon, which designs and builds specialist equipment for cleanrooms, laboratories and hospitals. Its in-house design and manufacturing enables the build of both standard and custom-designed equipment.

Located near Newhaven, Goldsworth Medical is a specialist supplier and consultant for sterile services within hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. Its latest product – a decontamination transfer trolley – is specifically designed for transporting medical equipment between decontamination centres and hospitals. The trolley meets UN3291, the United Nations recommendations for packaging and transport of clinical waste by road.

The company also makes transfer hatches, powered/gravity conveyors, packing/inspection tables, autoclave furniture and autoloaders, cleanroom and hospital equipment.

Boulting Environmental Services, of Manchester, specialises in providing a complete turnkey solution, including architectural, HVAC and M&E services, for the design and construction of sophisticated environments, particularly cleanrooms, laboratories and manufacturing and packaging areas.

Cleanroom Solutions designs and builds cleanrooms for the electronics, electro-optics, pharmaceutical, medical, food and CD industries, as well as research facilities for universities and colleges. Services include turnkey cleanroom installations, cleanroom design and project management, through to the supply of ancillary items such as air showers, pass-throughs, step-overs, etc.

From among the consumables suppliers, Guardline Technology is a leader in Europe with bespoke manufacturing capabilities at its base in Norfolk, UK. Micronova Manufacturing, meanwhile, hails all the way from Torrance, California. It has developed a range of cleanroom mops, wipers and detergents for the cleanroom sector. The company claims it was also the first to develop specially processed cleanroom tape – CR 100 PC – for controlled environments, and has recently broadened its product range to meet the needs of aseptic processing in pharmaceutical and biotechnological sites.

Solite Europe, based in Denton, Manchester, is a manufacturer and supplier of cleanroom lighting equipment and luminaires for laboratories, pharmaceutical areas, semiconductor manufacturing areas, hospitals, kitchens and food preparation applications.

Roxtec develops, manufactures and sells sealing solutions for cables and pipes. The flexible Roxtec sealing system covers all safety needs, and its adaptability makes it suitable for ensuring cleanroom cable inlets are leak-free.

Connect 2 Cleanrooms makes free standing modular structures in its ISO 9000:2001 accredited facilities, which are designed and built specifically for a simple installation on site. The cleanroom can be easily fitted around existing machinery and furniture to assure little or no effect on production and then validated to its necessary ISO 14644-1 cleanroom class.

The professional Society of Environmental Engineers (SEE), will promote its services. Concerned with the measurement, modelling, control and simulation of all types of environment, its members cover all aspects of mechanical, electrical, electronic, aeronautical, civil, energy and chemical engineering.


Engineers and medics meet and 3C and Medtec

Exhibitors at Medtec include:

Vaisala, a specialist in measurement and monitoring in cleanrooms; its new humidity and temperature transmitter, designed for use in cleanrooms and demanding HVAC applications, provides fail-safe continuous monitoring with gap-free data. It is also ideal for use with the company’s Veriteq viewLinc software continuous monitoring system.

The European division of Nordson EFD, EFD International, provides precision dispensing systems and disposable components that increase yields and improve process control through accurate, consistent application of drugs, reagents and other fluids. Products on show include an aseptic dispense valve featuring a contamination-resistant design.

Carclo Technical Plastics assembles and packs finished devices for the medical, pharmaceutical, diagnostic and ophthalmic sectors. It will promote its recently enhanced facilities. The company has completed a new facility including an injection moulding and assembly cleanroom within its Mitcham, Surrey, facility to support a major customer in the development of a dry powder inhaler. The new Class 7 cleanroom for moulding the components in production volumes also has the capability to laser mark, ultrasonically weld and camera inspect a sub-assembly.

Anchor Plastics Machinery will be promoting specialised filling lines, including that developed by its principal, Kiefel, which has developed new filling systems for infusion and blood bags. The filling systems are supplied as stand-alone units and for integration into fully automatic production lines. Integrated CIP/SIP systems ensure that these devices fulfil all the normal requirements of medical technology.

Isotron is one of Europe's specialist providers of contract sterilisation services for single-use medical device manufacturers. The company uses a number of technologies to sterilise medical devices including gamma irradiation, e-beam and ethylene oxide.

Among the specialist contract packers present, SteriPack is a global supplier of cleanroom sterilised packaging solutions for medical device companies looking to have their products assembled, packaged, sterilised and tested all under one roof.

Chester Medical Solutions also provides contract packing services for pharma-ceuticals, medical devices and diagnostic devices. It has recently secured PS9000 accreditation from BSI for its Deeside carton and leaflet plant.

Medtec includes a two-day conference on medical device development and manufacture

Medtec includes a two-day conference on medical device development and manufacture

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