TE Connectivity invests €5m in Galway medical device prototyping centre

US medical technology company TE Connectivity Corporation, a world leader in connectors and sensors, has opened a €5 million rapid prototyping centre for medical devices at its existing manufacturing facility in Galway.

The centre at Parkmore West Business Park, which is the company’s first global medical prototyping centre, connects TE’s engineers directly with customers to reduce development time and increase the speed to market for life-saving and life-improving medical devices, the company said.

TE’s medical business has had a presence in Galway since 1979, and employs approximately 1,300 people in the region.

TE’s Parkmore West site fulfils close to the complete global demand for minimally invasive catheter metal shafts such as coronary stents used to open clogged heart arteries and neurovascular coils which are used in the treatment of brain aneurysms.

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More than 120 patients are treated every minute with a medical device containing technology developed by TE, which employs 85,000 people worldwide and operates in 140 countries.

The Propelus Prototype Centre, as the new centre is known, features advanced engineering capabilities, including build-to-print services, quick turnaround prototype production and 3D printing. TE engineers work alongside customers to quickly make customer concepts a reality, enabling them to visit Galway and leave with a physical, functional prototype, along with a detailed commercialisation proposal.

TE can also manufacture the customer’s final device at high volumes in Galway or at another one of TE’s global manufacturing facilities and help manage their supply chain.

The launch of the centre may lead to TE manufacturing a larger range of medical devices for interventional, surgical, imaging and sensor applications for the world’s leading medical technology brands at Parkmore West. It already hosted the largest metals fabricator worldwide for minimally invasive devices.

“The principle is simple – getting high quality prototypes into customers’ hands as quickly as possible. By improving the speed of product development and manufacturing, TE will help customers innovate and iterate advanced treatments at a more efficient pace, ultimately transforming patient care for the better,” said director of operations Mark Gill.

“When our Propelus Prototype Centre engineers in Galway are not busy working on customer projects they are innovating for the future, staying close to new therapies and trialling new technologies so we stay ahead of the curve today and tomorrow.”