We are seeking an energetic, detail-oriented individual to join our Customer Service Team. This position will be responsible for developing excellent working relationships with clients, as well as providing world class service our customers have come to expect from us. A positive, courteous attitude is a must, along with desire to be a collaborative team player. Responsibilities include internal and external customer support, fielding client inquiries, prioritizing, effective communication between clients and internal departments, problem resolution and project management. Additionally, employee must assist in meeting company’s growth goals.

Duties:

• Provide excellent customer service
• Receive and return phone calls and email inquiries
• Data entry and maintenance of a CRM database
• Receive and process customer purchase orders
• Assist in production weekly review and scheduling
• Project management/coordination, including new client kick-offs
• Maintain RMA programs
• Coordinate with internal departments to meet customer needs in timely manner
• Creating and working within detailed Excel spreadsheets
• Assist with trade show planning and staffing, along with post show follow-up
• Assist Sales Team with lead processing/tracking, along with quoting and job cost analysis
• Photocopying, faxing, scanning and filing
• Maintain confidentiality agreements

Desired Skills & Experience

• Professional demeanor, with positive, can-do attitude
• Detail-oriented, with strong problem solving skills
• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize
• Strong customer service background with desire to provide exceptional customer service
• Pleasant, with ability to get along with various personalities
• Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal
• Proficient in Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, MRPs & CRMs
• Highly experienced within Excel
• Associate or Bachelor degree preferred; High School diploma or equivalent required
• Plastics, manufacturing and/or medical device experience a plus

To submit your information for consideration, please use our online application process.

By Doug Smock
Published: April 20th, 2012

At the heart of a potentially large-scale shift away from PVC in medical applications is a highly proprietary technology that makes it possible to inexpensively weld very thin gauge polyolefin elastomers.

Genesis Plastics Welding (Fortville, IN) showed the latest versions of its ecoGenesis radio frequency (RF) welding technology at NPE2012 (Orlando, FL; April 1-5), but the underlying technology is not new; it was invented in the 1980s by Robert C. Smith, who is the current board chairman of Genesis.

Until the commercialization of ecoGenesis, radio-frequency (RF) welding of films had been limited to polar resins with high dielectric loss factors–particularly flexible PVC and thermoplastic polyurethane. Nonpolar plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene are “invisible” to RF energy unless modified with significant amounts of polar additives such as EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate), adding to the expense. Properties are also impacted by the additives. PVC became the material of choice for hospital intravenous (IV) bags and tubing because of its low cost and property profile.

While the technology is not new, what is new is that major healthcare systems such as Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, CA) and Partners Healthcare (Boston) are now quickly moving away from use of PVC for IV bags and tubing due to concerns about dioxins and phthalate plasticizers used to make PVC flexible.

Producers are pushing
What’s also new is that major resin producers, film extruders and compounders such as PolyOne, Teknor Apex, Bayer MaterialScience, Dow and DuPont, have developed, or are in the process of developing, new olefin-based compounds that specifically target PVC replacement. Genesis has recently tweaked its process to ensure it works effectively with the new compounds.

Replacement efforts are focusing on elastomeric compounds such as thermoplastic olefin (TPO), which contains some amount of polyethylene, polypropylene, block copolymer polypropylene, rubber and reinforcing filler.  Elastomers have a soft feel that hospital staff expects with IV bags and tubing.

Genesis is also dramatically expanding its production space from 15,000 square feet to 42,000 square feet in anticipation of rapid growth in business, in particular from the medical market.

“I think there will be a major move to replace PVC, and that potential development will accelerate in two to three years as more materials are developed to compete against PVC,” Genesis Plastics Welding CEO Tom Ryder said in an interview with Plastics Today yesterday. PVC supplied to the medical industry has the advantage today of large economies of scale. That advantage will drop as scale develops for the replacements.

Polyolefin-based elastomers such as TPOs are more expensive than PVC on a per pound basis. Ryder points out, however, that yield for a given weight of TPO can be 40% greater than the same weight of PVC because of a difference in density. Density of flexible PVC is 1.1-1.35 g/cm3.  Density of TPO is 0.89.

Gauge reduction
In the interview with Plastics Today, Ryder also said that high-quality welds can be made with thinner gauge materials with the ecoGenesis process. Improved stability in the RF welding process allows welding of material down to 0.001 in. with reduced arc hazard, according to Ryder.

That could help explain how Kaiser Permanente and Partners both said they are saving millions of dollars by substantially reducing their use of PVC.

Two major compounders-PolyOne and Teknor Apex– have worked with Genesis to ensure that their elastomers can be effectively sealed.

“Medical device trends are highlighting the many advantages of TPEs for healthcare applications,” said Rick Noller, director of global marketing, PolyOne GLS Thermoplastic Elastomers. “Through our work with Genesis, our Versaflex TPEs can better meet the needs of the medical device industry. We have validated ecoGenesis welding for use with Versaflex CLE and Versaflex MT220 grades, providing the industry better choices for the next generation of fluid delivery products.”

Genesis has also partnered with medical device manufacturer REDpoint International  (Vancouver, WA) to produce PVC-free plastic primary medical tubing stabilization devices for catheters and IV sleeves. The company’s latest product, the StedLine IV Sleeve, is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and non-woven polyester bi-component material with a polyethylene (PE) coating and a polyester loop.

Bolt-on, Drop-in
So what is ecoGenesis?

It’s not patented and virtually no detailed information is publicly available on the technology, which is a closely held secret at Genesis.  It is described as an inexpensive modification to standard RF welding hardware that makes unmodified PE and PP “see” RF energy without any glue, coating, or expendable buffer or adhesive layers of another material. It requires no change in RF tooling and no change in RF frequency generation.

Genesis uses the technology in its rapidly expanding facility and also issues licenses allowing others to use the process. Ryder declined to disclose the number of licenses that have been issued. No cost data is available. Genesis uses several brands of RF welders in its shop and says ecoGenesis is effective on all of them.

The trend to replace PVC in medical is so hot that there is a lot of mystery in the materials’ technologies as well. Ryder said that several suppliers have asked Genesis to test the sealability of newly developed candidate materials, but won’t disclose any details about chemistries of the materials.

Genesis Plastics Welding was formed in 2008 when it acquired the ecoGenesis technology and launched a major expansion. Predecessor companies were called Plastics Welding Technologies and Genesis Manufacturing. The most recent expansion includes a doubling in the size of its Class 7 medical clean room.

Tom’s presentation will provide attendees with an overview and options for plastics sealing/welding within the growing medical device industry, as well as the limitations of each heat sealing method. Further discussion will focus specifically on radio frequency (RF) welding, along with industry demands for phthalate-free/PVC-free RF heat sealed medical devices.

For more information and to register, please visit the Central Indiana SPE website.

If you cannot attend but are interested in learning more about our expertise in RF heat sealing, please fill out the form on this page and let us know how we can help!

Genesis has Production Laborers jobs available. This position reports directly to the Production Manager and is responsible for a variety of manufacturing, production and assembly activities. Genesis will provide on-the-job training of use of radio frequency (RF) and impulse heat sealing equipment/tooling.  All laborers will be cross trained and are required to be flexible within all areas of production.

Job Requirements for Production Laborers:

• Able to stand for long periods of time
• Repetitive motion
• Able to read, understand and follow written procedures
• Identify acceptable and unacceptable production pieces
• Able to lift up to 50 lbs periodically and 25 lbs routinely
• High School Diploma/GED
• 2 or more years of production/manufacturing experience preferred

APPLY TODAY for this position on our website Career Center!

In early 2012 Ultra Athlete signed up Breg as its exclusive international medical distributor. Breg is a division of Orthofix International (NASDAQ: OFIX), a global orthopedic, sports medicine and spinal medical device manufacturer with sales of $579 million as of December 31, 2011. With the strong backing of Breg’s 100 distributors in 36 countries and 500 employees, Ultra Athlete’s ankle braces are quickly reaching worldwide buyers.

Breg is distributing Ultra Athlete’s newest Ultra Ankle® braces: Ultra Zoom® and Ultra High-5®. These innovative products offer premium comfort, protection and support for high ankle sprains, sub-acute ankle sprains and chronic ankle instability. Using Ultra Athlete’s patented designs, these lightweight, low profile performance ankle braces offer the perfect match between support and mobility that athletes prefer.

Genesis helped Ultra Athlete overcome several major product design challenges and has played a significant role in the company’s success. Since Ultra Athlete’s ankle braces are used for prevention, recovery and acute care in orthopedic and sports medicine treatment protocols, its product designs must offer the ultimate in durability, comfort and appearance. Unlike most ankle braces, Ultra Athlete’s ankle braces look more like high-tech, stylish sports gear than medical orthotics and they stand up to prolonged and rigorous wear-and-tear (including use by professional athletes). These competitive differentiators are attributable, in large part, to the unique way Genesis RF welds the strapping and padding systems.

As a production partner, Genesis helps Ultra Athlete perfect its manufacturing processes and provides lifecycle testing to continuously improve the braces’ visual appeal, strength and durability. RF welding the straps offers many benefits over traditional sewing methods. It allows for a more organic, comfortable strap shape, and the straps don’t fray or fall off like those that are attached via sewing. RF welding also allows Ultra Athlete to lower its production costs and significantly improve quality by automating many of its manufacturing processes.

Over the last 20 years, Genesis Plastics Welding has developed extensive expertise in contract manufacturing and radio frequency (RF) welding of plastic medical devices. The company’s proprietary ecoGenesis heat sealing technology makes it an ideal development partner for medical device manufacturers that are producing plastic products and components from a wide range of thermoplastic materials. ecoGenesis effectively, consistently and affordably welds polar polymers (such as PVC and polyurethane) and non-polar polymers (such as polyethylene and polypropylene).

Genesis has impressive experience manufacturing plastic medical devices, equipment and supplies as well as providing the healthcare industry with sustainable and PVC-free and/or phthalate-free plastics solutions. Fill out the form on this page to contact us today to discuss your plastic medical product or component – or to request a complimentary weld!

Genesis Plastics Welding partnered with California-based pediatric medical device and equipment manufacturer, NATUS Medical, Inc., in 1994 to first test and then commercially produce the ground-breaking Olympic Cool-Cap System® — a NICU treatment for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in term infants. Together, the companies have manufactured over 15,000 of the FDA-approved plastic neonatal medical devices. The cooling cap is flexible, disposable and comes in three sizes.

The innovative plastic NICU medical device is administered to newborns within the first six hours of life. It has been successfully used in Northwest Texas Hospital, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Dayton Children’s Hospital and Northridge Hospital Medical Center in California to name a few. The medical community has reported that the neonatal medical device prevents or significantly reduces the severity of neurologic injury associated with HIE by providing neuro-protection, while minimizing side effects due to hypothermia; allows infant brain cooling, while maintaining core temperature at safe levels; and offers meaningful improvements in neurodevelopmental outcomes and survival rates.

Genesis has impressive experience manufacturing plastic neonatal, pediatric and NICU medical equipment, and devices as well as providing the medical manufacturing industry with environmentally-friendly welding solutions. Fill out the form on this page to contact us today to discuss your plastic pediatric medical product – or to request a complimentary weld!

Genesis Plastics Welding partnered with medical device manufacturer, REDpoint International, to produce the revolutionary PVC-free plastic primary medical tubing stabilization devices for catheters and IV sleeves – the company’s latest product, the StedLine™ IV Sleeve. The innovative plastic medical product eliminates the need for glue or tape to secure intravenous lines to skin, making it comfortable, yet secure. REDpoint’s primary manufacturing goal was to eliminate PVC while still keeping the product cost-efficient, safe and patient-friendly. As a Green manufacturer, Genesis recommended REDpoint use lower-cost PE and PET materials well-suited for single-use medical products such as IV sleeves yet durable enough to provide the desired product strength. It is important to REDpoint to produce PVC-free plastic medical devices to help eliminate the environmental risk of DEHP leaching, offer patients safer options and supply hospitals with medical products that don’t increase disposal costs.

Genesis has extensive expertise producing PVC-free plastic products and components and providing environmentally-friendly post-production processes for the medical device and medical supply manufacturing industry. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation about your medical device product!

With Phase I of the Genesis Plastics Welding expansion complete, the Genesis management team is investing in key personnel to advance our Indiana-based engineering team to meet the growing demands of the medical device contract manufacturing industry. As a critical department within our RF heat sealing contract manufacturing facility, the plastics welding engineering team is the cornerstone for product development and new product launches. We are in search of individuals with both RF welding and plastics industry knowledge, as well as a background in project management and contract manufacturing.