With their production of ultra-fine wires, Alleima actively contribute to the medical field. These wires are used in pacemakers and hearing aids, among others.
Text and image by Alleima
Alleima, formerly Sandvik Materials Technology, continues to strengthen its position on the medical wire market, both in the US and Europe.
“With close collaboration in the early stage of product development, we can secure high-quality materials and shorten the time to market for our customers.
With the acquisition of the Swiss-based company Accuratech Group in 2021, we took an important step to be closer to our European customers, allowing us to increase our offering of value-added wire-based components,” says Jerry Blanton, Sales and Marketing Manager.
Fine wires
Ultra-fine wire-based components in pacemakers, deep brain stimulation for people with Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy, in hearing aids and in continuousglucose monitors for people with diabetes: these are some areas in the medical field to which Alleima, for many years, has contributed with its knowledge and products. Its wire-based components are used for stimulation, sensing and transmitting signals inside and outside the human body. These components must be biocompatible, and depending on the application, must offer features such as lubricity, conductivity, or fatigue resistance. These products are trademarked Exera®.
Exera wire-based components are used in medical applications where high quality is critical, such as in pacemakers, where the wires have to last hundreds of thousands of heartbeats. Another example is in continuous glucose monitors, where the importance of accurate measurements is required to support a stable blood sugar level day in and day out. The company also offers extensive plating capabilities of wire or parts used in medical devices.
Acquisition
To continue to strengthen their position in the medical field, in 2021, Alleima acquired Accuratech Group; a niched medical wire forming and component manufacturer with two entities in Switzerland (Galvarex and Polyfil) and one in Italy (Polyflex). By the acquisition, Alleima is targeting the US market as well as the European market with their added wire-forming capabilities, semi-finished wire component manufacturing, ultra-fine tubes and electroplating services. “The medical sector is one of the defined areas for growth, and through this acquisition we strengthened our position on this market, by adding wire forming and component manufacturing capabilities. The geographical footprint of Accuratech also increased our ability to support our customers in EMEA,” says Jerry Blanton.
About the company
Alleima is a global manufacturer of high value-added products in advanced stainless steels, special alloys and industrial heating solutions. Their product range includes seamless steel tubes for the energy, chemical and aerospace industry, precision strip steel for white goods compressors based on more than 900 active alloy recipes, ultra-fine wires and wire-based components for medical and micro-electronic devices, industrial electric heating technology and coated strip steel for fuel cell technology for cars, trucks, and hydrogen production. For the medical industry, Alleima offers more than 200 alloys and more on request. Alleima has about 5,500 employees and customers in approximately 90 countries.
Future collaborations
On 15 November, Alleima participated in the IVAM arranged event “Europe meets USA” at Compamed 2022. The event’s focus is on stimulating the collaboration between component manufacturers, device makers and users from Europe and the US, as well as initiating joint R&D projects and sharing experiences on the challenges of the respective markets.
