Why Formacoat
Why we’re the right choice for your coating needs
The Formacoat formula
“What do you want and why? While this may seem like a basic concept, it is one that often times can be overly complicated and even missed altogether. We’re continually amazed at how important the answers are to those seemingly simple questions. Before we offer answers to your coating challenges, we want to know what you care about, even what the customer who use your device care about. By digging deeper and listening to our customer’s needs, we gain a better understanding of what you need that leads to improved results, sooner.”
Mark Gross, CEO and Owner of Forrmacoat
Proven technologies and vendors
Our customers range from individual doctors and small start-ups, all the way to large international medical device firms. Formacoat® has the experience and depth of knowledge to be beneficial to customers across the entire spectrum. But no matter the size of your company, Formacoat® will be there for you to solve all of your coating needs.
Formacoat® has the equipment, facilities, coatings, knowhow and expertise to solve any coating challenges. If we have not done it yet, our experience and creativity is always up to the challenge. We coat all manner of OD, ID’s, stents, balloons, flat films, foils and mesh, and complex shaped medical devices with a wide array of biomedical materials.
Our premise is that there are no bad coatings; it is just that one type of coating chemistry may work better for you than another. Say you happen to be lucky (or skilled) enough in life to own both a Ferrari® and a pickup truck. Would you use your Ferrari to go to the lumber yard to pick up plywood? Of course not! While the Ferrari is an exquisite automobile, it would not be the right vehicle for that particular transportation need. Coatings are like this.
We use our 20 years of knowledge, experience and testing to find the best coating for your needs. If it happens that a particular coating does not work to your satisfaction, we can easily apply what we’ve learned in the first experiments to different types of coatings from one of our many other vendors. That means that you don’t need to teach someone about your device multiple times, as you would if you were going directly to several coating vendors. Not to mention these vendors are beholden to their own coatings and chemistries, meaning what they have might work ok, but the question remains: Is it truly the best solution for you? Does it functionally meet your needs? Does it match the needs of your substrate and device correctly? Does it financially match your needs? Our approach allows us to streamline the entire process, making it a fast and efficient use of your time and money for your project.
Our most common request is for devices to be coated with hydrophilic coatings as a way to reduce friction. Hydrophilic coatings require water to activate the lubricity, which in a typical surgical situation is very easy to do. In terms of friction, one may consider that Hydrophilic coatings are in general 1 to 2 orders of magnitude less friction than many common medical device materials, even the typical Teflon® (or other types of fluorinated surfaces). Formacoat® has multiple vendors of hydrophilic coating technologies and chemistries.
Since Formacoat® was founded in 2002, we have expanded the number of vendors and currently offers a variety of different types of coatings, which include hydrophilic, hydrophobic, Surface-blocking/Anti-fouling, Anti-Microbial, Heparin, Collagen and PSA/Adhesive coatings. We are also increasing the number and types of PTFE and other fluorinated coatings we offer, including several lower temperature types for some alternate needs. These coatings are typically cured either thermally or through the introduction of ultra violet light. With a catalog of over 90 different coatings from more than 45 different vendors, Formacoat® offers a multitude of coating solutions with coating methods including dip, spray, graft and roll for regular medical devices like catheters, micro-catheters, tubing, guidewires, film, mesh, odd geometric shapes, configurations and applications. We have the experience to coat anything you can dream!
“A merry band of wizards, blending new and trusted technologies with cutting edge ideas. From understanding the problem to finding multiple option solutions, Formacoat is our go-to for any contract manufacturing, engineering and design work inquiries that come our way. Save the time, go to Formacoat.”