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Timothy Steele's plan when he enrolled at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., probably didn't include extrusion. As a history major in what is widely consid- ered a preeminent engineering school, his plans obviously didn't include engi- neering, either. In fact, Steele was recruited to Lehigh because of his prowess as a long-distance runner, and had it not been for a wayward piece of glass that Steele had the misfortune to step on during training, this two-time All-American had a good shot at making the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team. Today, in what's been a nearly 50-year journey—a run that was long in distance and circuitous— Steele runs Microspec Corporation, Peterborough, N.H. (microspeccor- poration.com), as its founder and CEO. Microspec makes a variety of tubes and profiles for medical- device OEMs. It's forte is tiny, tight- tolerance multi-lumen medical tubes. It has commercialized tubes with 36 lumens, and has quoted jobs up to 42. Its commitment to breaking new ground with innova- tive products extends to the way it brings those complex products to market: All of Microspec's sales representatives are engineers. Steele's first experiences with extrusion came when he worked for four straight summers during college, running PVC profiles. "What I learned about extrusion I taught myself," he says. "At first I read anything I could get my hands on, all kinds of textbooks and tech- nical journals and papers about extrusion. But I soon found out that the best lessons were hands-on, at the machine, learning by doing." After college, Steele went to work in product development for a multi-national firm in New Jersey making FEP catheters. He moved to New Hampshire with that same firm, heading up new- product development. Then he was off to Ireland for a three-year stint, helping to set up his employer's production operation there. When he returned stateside, Steele brought a business plan with him. His vision was to start a tubing company that would focus on doing things that never had been done before: complex multi-lumen tubes made from a wide spectrum of TPUs, fluori- nated polymers, nylons, and elastomers. His business plan, as Steele recalls it, had one basic and fatal flaw—it included no financials. So his employer turned him down. In response, Steele gave six months' notice; cashed in $125,000 of Nike stock (he still wears Nikes); rented out one room in New Hampshire; and, after buying an extruder and two pieces of downstream equip- ment "on a handshake," Microspec was born. Today, Microspec employs 80 people, runs two shifts, and has about $10 million in annual sales. It's growing rapidly, adding 25 people to its team in the last three years alone. Quite a bit of its growth has been international, as it has established sales channels in Europe, China, and India. Interestingly, Microspec has a strong base of customers who are also competitors—well- established tubing proces- sors that go to Microspec for more complex, multi- lumen tubing that they are uncomfortable running on their own. Notes Norman Langevin, Microspec's customer-service and project manager, "Out of the top 30 leading medical-device OEMs, we service 25. We're not the cheapest. We're certainly not making a commodity, but an intricate, highly precise part. And when our competitors say 'no,' we say 'yes.'" Microspec may be known best for its expertise in multi-lumen catheters, but it also makes a long list of other types of medical tubes and profiles, including balloon catheters, bump and reverse- bump tubes, multi-durometer tubes, and microbore and micro extru- sions. Microspec also makes intermittent extruded tubing, in which a tube is extruded in varying durometers, radiopacity, and/or colors "I found out soon that the best lessons were hands-on, at the machine, learning by doing." Visit the Pipe, Profile, and Tubing Zone. Learn more at PTonline.com QUESTIONS ABOUT MEDICAL TUBING? Timothy Steele is the hands-on founder and CEO of Microspec. In a typical day, he can be found on the production floor setting up, validating, running, or supervising a line. @plastechmag 41 Plastics Technology On-Site Microspec Corporation