PI expands manufacturing facilities with new medtech wing in Melbourne

Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews visited Planet Innovation (PI) to officially open a new 1,000m² medtech manufacturing wing in our Melbourne facility.

The new wing is part of PI’s vision to build out its medtech manufacturing capabilities to create hundreds of new engineering and manufacturing jobs, and generate $1 billion in export revenue in the next five years. Hundreds of suppliers, startups and medtech innovators in the local ecosystem are expected to benefit from this economic activity.

Within the new wing, PI has established a consumable production facility capable of manufacturing single use devices for regulated industries such as medical devices, drug delivery and diagnostics. PI will be able to serve the range of high volume to low volume needs that will satisfy both start-ups and at-scale multinational companies.

Minister Andrews said she was delighted to open the new medtech manufacturing wing.

“PI is an incredible example of medtech manufacturing taking on the world from right here in Melbourne,” Minister Andrews said.

“The kind of job-creating Aussie ingenuity on display in this new manufacturing wing is exactly what the Morrison Government is encouraging through our $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy.

“From their role in manufacturing ventilators during COVID-19 to growing their manufacturing team by over 100 staff in the past year – it’s great to see first-hand how PI is going from strength to strength under the policies of the Morrison Government.”

PI’s manufacturing facilities, including a center in Carlsbad, California, are already a destination for some of the world’s leading medical device companies including Abbott, Truvian and Genea Biomedx.

In the last year, PI has doubled revenue to around A$100 million with manufacturing being a key growth driver. Part of this growth was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, as we rapidly deployed our manufacturing capability to respond to the urgent need to manufacture medical devices, including as part of the consortium that manufactured the NOTUS ventilator.

The new ISO 13485 certified and FDA accredited medtech manufacturing wing will allow more global medical device companies to establish at-scale manufacturing. It will also provide a key bridge to commercialization for medical device start-ups and innovators.

Stuart Elliott, co-CEO and co-founder of Planet Innovation, said: “We believe Australia is well-placed to become a medtech powerhouse on the global stage. It is a specialist, regulated industry that demands high levels of quality control and certifications, which lends itself to developed nations like ours. This new wing creates a step change in the scale and capability required to support large global medical companies. At the same time, it will enable more local companies to remain in Australia as they progress towards commercialization, keeping valuable skills and IP on-shore.”

To demonstrate the quality and scale of the new wing, PI has moved some of its existing manufacturing contracts into the facility. Australian innovations being manufactured there include a solar sharing system by Allume and a revolutionary new cell processing system by Scinogy

David James, CEO of Scinogy, said: “PI offers a lot of commercial flexibility, there’s not one model that has to be applied to every project, and that has been really important to us. The caliber of the team has been first class, from software to manufacturing. PI has also been able to deliver at the speed that we need, which has been very important as time to market is crucial.”

PI is also manufacturing products for international companies like TOMI Environmental Solutions, whose SteraMist® range of products is used worldwide for infectious disease control, including to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Halden Shane, CEO of TOMI Environment Solutions, said: “Working with Planet Innovation has allowed us to quickly expand our production so we can ensure we can always get our products to those who need them.”

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