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EnPak and Ecoclean officials see their partnership as a win-win-win, not only for their two companies but also their customers.
Thursday afternoon, the two businesses celebrated that partnership with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce at EnPak, 939 E. Pound Drive North, Warsaw.
In an interview, EnPak LLC President Marlene Mulero-Betances said, “Today we’re celebrating the inauguration of our Clean Impact Technology Center. It’s a partnership between Ecoclean and EnPak to be able to provide comprehensive solutions around cleaning, as well as operations and logistics. So it’s a very unique partnership.”
The cleaning is for medical device parts using high-end cleaning equipment.
“So, after the parts are manufactured, you have machining fluids, liquids that are used lubricants that have to be removed before something else is done with the part. So you have cleaning processes involved during the production process, and when the parts are finished and getting ready to be sent to an end-user - a customer, hospital, for example - they have to be cleaned again to make sure that there is nothing on the finished product itself that could cause any harm,” she explained.
She said there are different phases in which a product is cleaned.
The partnership between EnPak and Ecoclean will help many start-up companies, as well as the larger ones.
“Obviously, we’re in a community that has a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of those first getting ready to market their products don’t have the investment or expertise to make the product themselves and then manage the inventory and logistics around it once it’s made,” Mulero-Betances said. “So we offer a solution where they can have the part manufactured and then sent to us to be cleaned, finished packaged and then we can do all the inventory management for it, and then in the end send it to their customers if necessary.”
She said they provide full back-end support now that they have the partnership.
They can support any company regardless of geography, but Mulero-Betances said they do hope to be able to support companies around them.
“As you know, we’re a close community and the regulations around cleanliness are changing and becoming more stringent, and so we’re making available cleaning equipment that can meet those requirements, and so we see there’s a real value for a lot of the contract manufacturers around us that may not have the funds to invest in new cleaning equipment. They can take advantage of our contract cleaning services,” she said.
The partnership will have a lot of value especially to the smaller companies that may need the services, she reiterated.
“It’s a real value to smaller companies because it gives you access to equipment that you might not otherwise have access to, and with EnPak being part of that relationship, it also provides all the backend support you need so you can be essentially hands-off,” Mulero-Betances stated. “It also gives you the ability to be compliant without having to do all the validation work yourself, and become confident that your product is being handled by an organization that has the experience necessary to make sure we’re doing the right things. It also allows a small company to grow without putting a whole lot of money into production and operations.”
Ecoclean Americas President and CEO Mark Jackson and Global Key Account Manager R. Wesley Gensch were two of the Ecoclean representatives on hand Thursday.
“We’re a truly global organization. We’re in nine countries, from U.S., Mexico, the U.K., two facilities in Germany, one in Switzerland, one in France, one in India and two in China. And every one of those facilities manufactures, so we design and make cleaning technologies. We basically clean and apply surface treatments to components, whether it be a stent that fits in your body or a big half-ton diesel engine block,” explained Jackson.
As an organization Ecoclean’s main focus globally is to move into the precision cleaning area, of which orthopedics and medtech is a crucial part of that growth business.
“Through Wesley and Marlene, we started to create this venture, and this is a culmination of step one of that venture - to clean and do the whole integrated process with Marlene, with packaging, get inspection and logistics. So it truly is a partnership, a partnership between EnPak and Ecoclean. We clean the parts, and Marlene does all the difficult parts of packaging, logistics and all of that,” Jackson said.
The partnership grew out of a past working relationship Gensch had with Mulero-Betances.
Gensch, originally from Pierceton, said he’s known Mulero-Betances for about a decade after working with her through a small business he was at. He said Mulero-Betances helped him a lot with documentation and understanding validation in the medical industry.
“So, now in my life in business development and sales for Ecoclean, I was very familiar with what Marlene’s capabilities were. So when we started to look at inspection, packaging, validations, documentation support, that aligns very well with a lot of what we do in cleaning at Ecoclean, so we said this would be a wonderful opportunity for us to provide the cleaning aspects and avoid a lot of the large capital equipment purchases by offering contract clean, so then that feeds directly into what Marlene and EnPak does with these contract services,” Gensch explained.
The partnership has been around for about three years. “This is just the culmination of the opening of the machines, the full contract cleaning facility” and hardware, Gensch said.
“We have three different machines,” Gensch said. “We have three different machines, so we have a pre-clean machine; an intermediate single-chamber machine that does vacuum, closed loop, pulse pressure systems; and then we have a final clean machine, which is a multi-tank ultrasonic aqueous system.”
Jackson said it’s roughly a $2.5 million investment, just on Ecoclean’s side. Then there’s the infrastructure, HVAC, the building and floors and EnPak’s side.
“So together it’s a major investment in the area. A major investment in the area,” Jackson stated, adding that it’s step one of multiple steps. “We already have a vision of where we want to be in the next three years.”
Jackson also stated, “It’s a win-win for EnPak and Ecoclean, and we want it to be a win-win-win with our customers. We’re here to service them, we’re just down the road. We’re not in Germany, we’re not in Detroit, we’re not on the other side of the planet.”
He said Warsaw is a critical part of the market for Ecoclean and “this is really our first joint venture in the states, so it gives some idea of how important it is to us.”
Before the ribbon-cutting, Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) CEO Peggy Simmons said, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to celebrate here. We’re celebrating actually two milestones today. First of all, the milestone of EnPak being in business for 15 years.”
She said to be able to celebrate the partnership that Ecoclean brings with EnPak is just the start. “If you’re looking for a model of how the ecosystem grows and functions together, Marlene and her team are that perfect example. It’s all about collaboration.”
What makes Kosciusko County special is, whether it’s orthopedics, agriculture or advanced manufacturing or “whatever ecosystem you belong with, we’re all part of the success of this county. And I couldn’t be more proud to stand here today and represent the folks at KEDCO. We love it when we see the relationships we foster come to fruition.”
Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors President Zach Tucker congratulated the two companies on their “fantastic” achievement. “It’s always a great day for our community when we get to celebrate growth, innovation and continued investment in our local economy.”
He said EnPak is a wonderful example of a company helping to move the community forward.
“Today’s ribbon-cutting represents opportunity and continued success of our local business community. So we’re excited for you guys to grow and thrive all the years ahead. With that, let’s cut a ribbon,” Tucker concluded.
