Lifesaving medical equipment, from ventilators and defibrillators to auto-chemistry analyzers, is essential in overcoming COVID-19. To meet urgent requests from global customers that manufacture these products, SABIC has taken extraordinary steps to expedite order fulfillment for its specialty thermoplastic resins. As an example, the company rapidly supplied significant quantities of thermoplastics to two Chinese medical device manufacturers, Mindray and DIRUI. Despite shutdowns and exponential increase in demand, SABIC has worked to ensure fast and steady supply of desperately needed medical equipment to hospitals on the front lines.

“The coronavirus pandemic has spotlighted the critical role of material suppliers in the face of urgent demand for high volumes of medical devices, supplies and personal protective equipment,” said Martin Tam, SABIC director, Customer Fulfillment APAC, Specialties. “As a leading plastics manufacturer in the medical products supply chain, SABIC has risen to the challenge of supporting the healthcare industry during this difficult time. Our agility, seamless scalability and broad global resources are allowing us to do our part to reliably deliver the specialized materials needed for healthcare applications used to diagnose, monitor and treat patients.”

10,000 Medical Devices for Italy

Mindray Medical International Limited is a global medical instrumentation developer and manufacturer based in Shenzhen. When Mindray received an urgent order from Italy for 10,000 units of its ventilators, defibrillators, monitors and in vitro diagnostic (IVD) machines, the manufacturer contacted SABIC for a range of its high-performance specialty materials. Mindray’s order included LNP™ EXL copolymer, internally lubricated LNP™ LUBRICOMP™ and anti-static LNP™ FARADEX™ compounds, and ULTEM™ resin. SABIC delivered these materials to Mindray’s contract molder within weeks.

Further, Mindray urgently needed high-performance SABIC materials to produce 3,000 pieces of medical equipment for two new hospitals being constructed in China. The SABIC team worked around the clock for two days to produce much-needed thermoplastics for Mindray, primarily for device housings.

“As COVID-19 cases spiked in China and Italy, we faced intense pressure to produce and ship essential medical equipment as fast as possible,” said Timmy Tong, procurement business director for Mindray. “SABIC went above and beyond to deliver the materials we required, in a very short timeframe, with the high quality and consistency we expected. Particularly in this crisis situation, our strong, longstanding relationship with SABIC is demonstrating its priceless value.”

1,000 Auto-chemistry Analyzers for China

DIRUI Industrial Co., Ltd., a leading provider of high-quality diagnostic equipment and reagents in China, also faced urgent customer requests for equipment to support COVID-19 care. In March 2020, the company requested expedited delivery of two grades of SABIC’s NORYL™ polyphenylene ether (PPE) resin. These advanced thermoplastic materials were needed to produce 1,000 auto-chemistry analyzers for Chinese hospitals. The analyzers are used to measure patients’ kidney and bladder function, among other tests. Although SABIC’s Shanghai facility was shut down to contain COVID 19, SABIC quickly mobilized to manufacture, fulfill and supply DIRUI’s order.

Of the two grades of NORYL™ PPE resin, one provides dimensional stability and chemical resistance for the analyzer housings, while the other delivers the hydrolytic stability needed for the water channel.

“We are thankful to SABIC for the tremendous job they did in fulfilling our critical order so that we could rapidly produce the auto-chemistry analyzers needed to help control the pandemic,” commented Henry Chen, supply chain development manager of DIRUI. “We look forward to continuing our seamless and efficient collaboration with SABIC in the future.”
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