This year’s MPO Summit lived up – literally – to its name. The conference, which focused on trends and issues in the medical device manufacturing industry, took place at Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Colorado, near Denver International Airport. While I did not get to check out the resort’s water park, spa or golf simulator, I did appreciate the facilities and space of the conference center.

Quick-turn, short-leadtime needs
What we came away with was that attendees are more than interested in sterilization. Faced with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling earlier this year that put in place the strongest measures to date for ethylene oxide (EO) commercial sterilization facilities, many people were interested in our work with chlorine dioxide (CD).

Even more than that, though, was the almost-universal focus on the need for faster sterilization turnaround. While many companies – from OEMs to smaller developers – may have a mainstay sterilization contractor in place, they frequently need an alternative for small batches, samples, engineering runs and new-product validations. They need the work done quickly, not in several months’ time. We heard “it takes too long” more than a few times.

Sterilization in four business days
The good news was that we could offer these execs an alternative. With Boulder Sterilization, sterilization cycles generally take four business days. Validations may take 8-10 weeks. Whether with CD or EO, we shrink leadtimes. Plus, project start time almost always takes up to a few weeks, not months. The people with whom we spoke were often surprised to learn there’s a contract sterilizer that is so flexible.

Next up on the conference schedule is RESI in January, in San Francisco. We’ll be there!

Jeremy Anderson, Director of Business Development. Email Jeremy.