US packaging and medical components company Tekni-Plex (Wayne, Pennsylvania; www.tekni-plex.com) has started production at its new plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu / China, making tubing and custom compounds for its "Natvar", "Colorite" and "Action Technology" business units. The firm invested USD 15m (EUR 12.5m) to build the plant, which it said will meet the growing needs of the pharmaceutical and medical device markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

The facility includes three Class 100,000 cleanrooms to accommodate medical-grade tubing and components production as well as one Class 10,000 cleanroom to produce Natvar’s pharmaceutical-grade tubing. The classification system establishes standards of air cleanliness for cleanrooms based on specified concentrations of airborne particles.

Manufacture of microextrusion tubing is expected to start in early 2018. Micro tubing is used in a range of neurovascular interventional therapies and surgical applications.

Tekni-Plex is a globally-integrated company focused on developing and manufacturing packaging materials, medical compounds – as PVC and TPE compounds – and precision-crafted medical tubing solutions for some of the most well-known names in the medical, pharmaceutical, personal care, household & industrial, and food & beverage markets. It employs 2,500 people throughout its operations in Belgium, China, Costa Rica, Germany, India, Italy, Northern Ireland and the United States.