SHANGHAI—A collaboration between Chinese-Australian joint venture extruder Finlumen and specialty compounder NEU Specialty Engineered Materials L.L.C. has yielded a minimally invasive surgical catheter that will be exhibited at an upcoming industry trade show.
Finlumen, the tubing extrusion division of Demax Medical Technology Co., sought out NEU, a subsidiary of PolyOne Corp., to help produce catheters to the exacting specifications required for making extremely small-diameter tubing used in minimally invasive surgery.
NEU, the former New England Urethane Inc. business, specializes in compounding high-performance thermoplastics.
Finlumen's General Manager Yao Xu said manufacturing in China and working with European suppliers can be difficult because of the time difference and lack of face-to-face contact.
"It's the first time I found a company who has set up a team dedicated to medical requirement tubing, and it's more convenient because they had someone here," he said.