As a transfer pad printing specialist, focusing solely on the medical device industry, CI Medical, Inc. is featured in the January/February issue of Plastics Decorating magazine. After 30+ years, the company has opened up to reveal its early history and disclose how they became a significant part of the medical device industry.
CI Medical’s emergence into the medical industry in 1989 changed the face of the company. A former transfer pad printing veteran focusing on ad specialties (ASI), CI Medical began its transformation into a significant force when it committed to serving a 100% medical customer base. Early work with Boston Scientific brought on the adoption and implementation of GMP, TQM and eventually ISO Certification – a qualification which is now a requirement for all vendors to medical device manufacturers.
Today, CI Medical works with Fortune 500 companies, as well as start-up and maturing medical device OEMs, printing on thousands of product lines, marking catheters, ports, needles, connectors, syringes, textiles, heat shrink, stainless steel and Nitinol tubes, etc. In addition to printing high-precision markings with standard medical-grade ink, CI Medical has developed its own, proprietary Radiopaque® ink line for use on pacemakers, chemotherapy ports, tubes, fabrics, and polypropylene sheets used in stent-less and spinal procedures in conjunction with a fluoroscope and/or X-rays. They have developed proprietary pre-treatment processes that allow them to achieve superior ink adhesion on such unprintable substrates as PTFE, FEP, PEEK, PE, PU and silicone to name a few.
The future continues to look bright for CI Medical. With a dedicated workforce in a state-of-the-art 20,000-square-foot facility, the spry company can react quickly to customer requests and changes. Keeping up with manufacturing technology and OEM trends, developing unique processes, and concentrating on providing the highest quality of customer service has kept clients coming back and attracted new customers through word of mouth referrals. “Additionally,” says CI Medical President, Marc Cohen, “we partner with design engineers of transfer pad printing machine manufacturers from around the world. With our vast pad printing knowledge, and experience base, coupled with their machine capabilities, we have jointly designed machinery that provides printing capabilities that no other company can duplicate.””
