Apex Engineering held an open house in its newly consolidated facility in Downing Industrial Park. The company makes specialized molded pieces for the medical industry.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Staying on the cutting edge of technology has been key to staying competitive in modern manufacturing, says Donald Rochelo, founder and COO of Apex Engineering, and a key player in the much-heralded new Berkshire Innovation Center.
"We're looking for common denominators of how technology can serve us," said Rochelo of the BIC at an open house of Apex's newly consolidated facility in Downing Industrial Park last week.
Apex, which is one of about a dozen Berkshire manufacturers thus far partnered in the center, has grown dramatically in recent years through innovative approaches to supplying key plastics products for the booming medical supply industry.
"Contrary to popular belief, manufacturing is alive and well, and we're a very good example of that," said General Manager Tony Liporace. "We felt this was a good time to show the community who we are and what we do."
The Pittsfield company, which employs 70 people, was founded in 31 years ago, but in 1998 began moving into production of medical supply items, primarily a range of biocomposite screws and anchors that are implanted in the body, particularly in knee replacement procedures.
This highly specialized, highly precise type of molding has helped Apex cut out a niche in this growing industry.
In July, Apex moved its full operations into a newly acquired 42,000-square-foot building that allowed it to consolidate from multiple separate buildings in the business park to an integrated facility bringing the whole company under one roof. The company spent another $800,000 to upgrade the building, as well as making significant purchases of new state-of-the-art equipment to expand its tool room.
The facility also includes a Class 8 clean room, where workers toil in sterile conditions and precise ventilation and HEPA, or high-efficiency particulate air, filters ensure that the air volume of the room is recycled about 200 times an hour. The resins used in this area are about 2,500 times more expensive than those used in some of the non-medical products produced by Apex, and the clean room may have up to a quarter-million dollars worth of material at any given time.
Because of the nature of the products being made, however, by far the most expensive part of the operation in terms of personnel is the quality assurance department. The medical products that amount to about 70 percent of Apex's business have extremely exacting specifications critical to the success of the items, so a thorough process of validations is a crucial part of the work done at the facility.
"We produce products that are going into your body, and we understand how important that is," said Princewell Abunalo, the company's quality manager.
Extensive tests are performed to identify everything that could possibly go wrong with a product, so these errors can be entirely avoided. Each validation step is reviewed before moving on to the next, and both Apex and the customer sign off to approve before production begins.
"Not that many companies have the discipline to do this," said Liporace. "That's our sweet spot — engineering-driven products made with cutting edge technology.”
Rochelo said the current size and configuration of the company has mostly grown up in the past 12 years, after he bought back the company he'd founded from venture capitalists who'd purchased it and driven it nearly out of business. Now that it is thriving, he is continuing to look ahead to the future, and to the kind of cutting-edge technologies that will keep it competitive and growing.
The new Berkshire Innovation Center, on whose board Rochelo serves as co-chairman, will be a part of that process for Apex and other local manufacturers. Rochelo said its most important function will be as a "technology portal," that it will make accessible some of the most expensive types of equipment and applications, such as 3D printing, that might be burdensome for local companies to purchase on their own.
"We're going to be exploring and identifying the kind of technology needed in that portal, and what will serve the area well," Rochelo said.
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Apex Engineering held an open house in its newly consolidated facility in Downing Industrial Park. The company makes specialized molded pieces for the medical industry.
