trendgineering
Global medical manufacturing at the highest level
| Dr. Christina Langbein
As an established medtech CDMO, MGS relies on KraussMaffei as its trusted equipment partner
From the first drawing to the packaged component: MGS, based in Germantown, Wisconsin (USA) operates as a “Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization” (CDMO) covering the entire vertical value chain. These are always complex, high-volume projects for international healthcare markets. When it comes to injection molding machines, MGS has relied on KraussMaffei all-electric injection molding machines of the PX series for many years. These machines also support production of MGS’ A.i.r. Platform™, a fully customizable auto-injector solution, designed to enable pharma and biotech partners to tailor the device design to align with their brand and specific patient needs.
For MGS, quality comes first. As an end-to-end partner for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, the company bears enormous responsibility, which is why it sets high standards for itself and others.
We’re in the Champions League when it comes to volume, precision, and quality. To achieve this, we need the right partners who can keep pace with our customers’ growth. KraussMaffei has proven time and again that they are up to this major challenge.Dirk Paulmann
Vice President of Global Marketing, MGS
Speed as a key competitive advantage
Although the medical industry is known for its long development cycles, there is often significant pressure. Market launch dates are usually fixed and if the decision-making process for development and validation takes longer than planned, the order fulfillment and setup of high-tech production must be accelerated.
So KraussMaffei has also received orders for a large number of machines at once, which had to be delivered and commissioned in the shortest possible time.
For me, it is a self-evident matter to respond to our customers’ wishes in the best possible way and to fulfill them as quickly as possible.Thomas Hörl
Key Account Manager Medical at KraussMaffei in Parsdorf
Thomas Hörl has been supporting MGS for many years and has also witnessed the major shift from being a technical molder to healthcare manufacturing that MGS undertook starting in 2013.
Founded in 1982 as a dedicated toolmaker, MGS has operated its own in-house injection molding machines since 1994, initially only for prototyping and later also for series production.
The PX as a key machine for the medical and pharmaceutical industries
With its shift into the medical sector, KraussMaffei’s all-electric PX injection molding machine is particularly appealing to the company. Its electric drives ensure a fast process and enable clean demolding at high speeds.
In the medical version (including automatic centralized lubrication in a closed circuit), it is ideally suited for ISO 8 cleanroom production, which MGS operates on a large scale.
For larger shot weights, several injection molding machines of the GX series are also in operation, and durable CX machines from the technical molding era are still available for use in other applications.
All machines are equipped with LRX linear or six-axis robots. Since MGS projects typically involve multi-cavity molds running at fast cycle times, process repeatability across all cavities is critical. For low part weights, such as those of laboratory materials, not only is precise hot runner technology required, but also machines that guarantee a completely constant shot weight.
KraussMaffei’s APCplus function offers the ideal digital solution for this. It optimally adjusts the switching point and holding pressure from shot to shot to match the respective melt viscosity.
Global scalability enabled by on-site service
MGS has established itself as a CDMO in three distinct sectors – pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical technology. The company is supported by approximately 90 design and development specialists embedded across programs, enabling the design, prototyping, testing, and validation of medical devices in compliance with international standards.
Individual components are engineered, injection molds (around 300 per year) are manufactured, and automation is planned in a dedicated department. In total, MGS now has over 1,500 employees in the U.S., Costa Rica, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and Slovakia. This makes it easy to roll out new medical projects worldwide.
It is important that the machine partner's service is also efficient across all locations. Through its international service network, KraussMaffei offers customers like MGS the assurance that a competent contact person is always quickly available on-site for maintenance or to solve problems.
A.i.r.: The Fully Customizable Auto-injector Platform as a Future Project
MGS’ proprietary A.i.r. Platform™ (Auto-injector reimagined), is also designed for pharma companies and their end users worldwide. The A.i.r. Platform™ is built around a fully certified internal mechanism, allowing customers to leverage a proven, ready-to-integrate system without the need to develop a device from scratch.
Its modular design enables customization of the external form and user interface to align with specific brand, therapy, and patient requirements, significantly reducing development timelines, technical risk, and regulatory burden on the path to market.
As a strategic growth platform for MGS, A.i.r. strengthens the company’s position in the drug delivery device market by combining speed, flexibility, and reliability. To support increasing demand, MGS continues to invest in expanding its global cleanroom manufacturing capabilities.
This is where KraussMaffei comes in, the long-standing partner for whom Dirk Paulmann particularly values "the high level of attention we receive." He emphasizes that the collaboration always feels like teamwork – and what could be better than that?!