Dow Corning Opens State-Of-The-Art Healthcare Application Centre To Support Customer Growth, Meet Industry Demand In Europe

Dow Corning, a global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, recently announced the opening of an expanded healthcare application centre here at the company’s European headquarters.The facility is intended to serve customers in Europe, and combines the company’s extensive expertise in silicone materials with leading-edge application development equipment to support advances in medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare technologies. The expanded centre can offer in-depth training on application development using the company’s cutting-edge materials, and can provide an impressive array of sophisticated prototyping services, technical support and testing for customers designing new products with the Dow Corning’s high-performance, medical grade silicon-based technologies, most notably its popular liquid silicone rubber (LSR) and high consistency rubber (HCR) product lines.

“Europe is one of the healthcare industry’s fastest growing geographic markets and we are projecting significant demand across the region for LSR and HCR product lines as well as other healthcare materials over the next several years,” said Jean-Pierre Latere, application engineer and technical service manager for Healthcare at Dow Corning. “To support this growth, we now offer European customers and distributors an expanded application centre in Seneffe specifically designed to help them innovate the advanced silicone technologies they need to differentiate their products and maintain a strong competitive edge.”

The expansion of the application centre this year coincides with the 50th anniversary of Dow Corning’s Healthcare Industries Materials Site (HIMS), located in Michigan, United States. HIMS is dedicated solely to manufacturing materials for medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare applications. It and maintains strict adherence to current Good Manufacturing Practices, and is registered and audited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Both sites are part of Dow Corning's Global Registration to ISO 9001, thereby meeting stringent international quality standards set by the International Organization for Standardization. Combined, these two dedicated facilities underscore Dow Corning’s commitment to targeting and addressing the needs of its global healthcare customers.

This expanded application centre is focused on testing, training and developing advanced new silicone solutions for Europe’s fast-growing healthcare industry. Strategically located at the company’s Seneffe headquarters, the facility offers European customers ready access to Dow Corning’s industry-leading materials and technical expertise to help them bring their next-generation healthcare applications more quickly to market.

The centre is fully equipped for advanced materials characterization and testing, and offers a broad array of tools and support for formulating, compounding and molding device technologies using Dow Corning’s medical-grade LSR and HCR materials, as well as its other silicone elastomers and adhesives for healthcare applications.

“This expanded application centre comes at a critical time for our European healthcare customers who are increasingly looking to us to more closely support the development of their next-generation products,” said Gary Lord, global strategic marketing director for Healthcare at Dow Corning. “The centre strengthens our foundation for innovating world-class healthcare solutions in Europe and underscores our commitment to customers across the entire continent.”

In addition to offering direct support to Dow Corning healthcare customers, the expanded application centre will also dedicate resources towards development of the company’s next-generation of medical-grade silicones. Dow Corning will preview many of these planned products during COMPAMED 2014 (Booth #M27, Hall 8a), held in Düsseldorf, Germany, from November 12-14 at the Messe Düsseldorf Fairground.

Dow Corning has been advancing healthcare technology through industry-leading materials innovation for over 60 years. Its products are leveraged by customers around the world to manufacture a wide variety of medical-grade materials for applications such as pharmaceutical tubing, drug-delivery patches, home diagnostic kits for renal patients, anti-gas ingredients and other pharmaceutical products. Dow Corning was also one of the first companies to introduce innovative silicone adhesives for advanced wound dressing.

As part of its commitment to quality, safety and security Dow Corning’s highly integrated supply chain and comprehensive documentation ensure traceability of materials to deliver the performance customers demand.

About Dow Corning
Dow Corning (dowcorning.com) provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services.Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated. More than half of Dow Corning’s annual sales are outside the United States. Dow Corning’s global operations adhere to the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care initiative, a stringent set of standards designed to advance the safe and secure management of chemical products and processes.

About Dow Corning Healthcare
Dow Corning has more than 60 years of experience specializing in healthcare-related industries to improve the quality of life, transform patient care, and pioneer next generation innovation through silicone advancements. Dow Corning offers materials that are designed for use in medical device fabrication including wound and scar management, drug delivery systems and pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical processing.