SSG Partners with Customers to Achieve Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economy

In 2003 SSG identified an opportunity to help a customer that was coating their guidewires in house. Their process was inconsistent. Our goal was to apply the PTFE coating to the customer’s guidewires and eliminate the internal production quality issues, coating costs, coil-bound heavily coated rejects and quality costs associated with sorting through guidewires to find rejects. By partnering with this large customer, we were able to develop precision coating of guidewires on a prototype automated coating line to prove the SSG method was a vast improvement in consistent coating application. This was followed by the construction of an ultra-accurate coating line for large scale production. SSG now PTFE coats millions of guidewires per year for the guidewire industry.

As a result of the success of this preliminary work, SSG invested in additional equipment to develop a second state-of-the-art coating line. This equipment not only accommodates larger production orders but also takes coating deposition accuracy capabilities to a higher level than previously thought possible. The line coats guidewires in lengths up to 485 cm. Our stringent quality system ensures accurate and uniform PTFE coating with no glue-like binding between coils.

Our customer/partner decided to take advantage of SSG’s increased level of efficiency, effectiveness and economy by outsourcing all the coating work for their 94 guidewire lengths. It relies on our ability to PTFE coat, round or flat guidewires, with diameters ranging from .018″ to .038″ and lengths ranging from 145 cm to 485 cm.

SSG has processed more than 3 million guidewires for this customer with virtually zero rejects over the last three years while saving it as much as 70% on PTFE raw material costs through the precision of our state-of the art coating line. SSG is proud to offer services to this medical device manufacturer to help them stay ahead of their competition.