Our Global Insight for Medical Molding with Gustav Reingsdahl

We sit down with Gustav Reingsdahl to explore the evolving global medical injection molding market and the strategic role Rosti plays as a trusted contract manufacturing partner — from concept to reality.

What themes have emerged during 2024 in the plastic injection molding sector related to the medical market?

In 2024, we saw several key trends emerge in plastic injection molding, particularly within the medical sector. Some of the most significant include:

Sustainability and Biodegradable Materials

The medical industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact. This year, we’ve seen a growing shift toward sustainable polymers, including biodegradable and recycled materials.

Advanced Automation and Smart Manufacturing

The integration of automation, robotics, and AI-driven quality control systems has continued to gain momentum. The medical sector, in particular, has embraced smart manufacturing to improve precision, reduce waste, and increase production efficiency.

Regulatory and Material Compliance Challenges

The evolving regulatory landscape continues to impact material selection and manufacturing processes. With stricter guidelines from the FDA and EU MDR, medical manufacturers must ensure that plastic components meet new biocompatibility, and sterilization requirements. This has led to an increased demand for advanced material testing and compliance tracking within the injection molding process.

Supply Chain Resilience and Nearshoring Trends

The disruptions experienced over the past few years have pushed medical manufacturers to rethink their supply chains. Many have shifted toward nearshoring or reshoring their production to ensure reliability, reduce lead times, and comply with localisation policies. This trend has influenced how injection molding companies source materials and structure their operations to remain competitive.

Overall, 2024 was a year of innovation and adaptation for the plastic injection molding sector, particularly within the medical market. As demand for precision, compliance, and sustainability continues to rise, manufacturers must stay ahead of these trends to remain competitive in the evolving landscape.

How do Rosti’s capabilities and global technologies assist in bringing products to market quicker?

Accelerated time to market mobilising our digital technovation centers with Carbon® M3 printers utilizing Digital Light Synthesis printing technology

Through our Innovation Lab, we offer rapid prototyping services, including 3D printing and soft tooling, allowing us to quickly test, refine, and validate product designs. This significantly shortens the initial development phase and ensures that potential issues are identified and resolved early in the process.

We provide a fully integrated design-to-manufacturing approach, covering product development, precision injection molding, assembly, and packaging under one roof. This eliminates unnecessary delays associated with outsourcing different stages of production, making the entire process more seamless and efficient.

The medical industry is heavily regulated, and navigating compliance can be a complex challenge. Rosti has deep expertise in ISO 13485-certified medical manufacturing and work closely with clients to ensure all materials and processes align with the latest regulatory requirements, preventing potential roadblocks in market approval.

With manufacturing facilities across Europe, Asia, and North America, we provide customers with strategic geographic advantages. Our ability to nearshore production helps reduce lead times, optimise logistics, and comply with regional regulatory requirements, ensuring faster delivery to market. Further, our flexible production setup ensures a smooth transition from low-volume prototyping to full-scale mass production, reducing market entry times while maintaining cost efficiency.

How has the heightened importance of sustainability and working with the right partner benefitting Rosti?

As the push for greener manufacturing intensifies, we have implemented a range of sustainable practices such as, material innovations, design optimisations such as lightweighting and recyclability, operational efficiency and green energy focus. 

Sustainability is no longer an option, it’s a necessity. We take a proactive approach, integrating environmentally friendly practices, responsible material sourcing, and advanced manufacturing technologies to ensure that our clients can deliver innovative, high-quality, and sustainable products to the market.