12 Jul 2006
GE Plastics Provides Cost-Efficient Source for Diverse Resins Featured in Multi-Function Aisys® Anesthesia Delivery System
BERGEN OP ZOOM, THE NETHERLANDS — July 12, 2006 — The state-of-the-art Aisys® Carestation® anesthesia delivery system from GE Healthcare is a demonstration of sophisticated technology in a versatile device. It is the first GE anesthesia solution to integrate electronic gas and agent control as well as delivery with advanced ventilation, vital signs monitoring, and an Advanced Breathing System (ABS™). However, its success in the healthcare marketplace also rides on such practical factors as cost-effectiveness and durability. To achieve these goals, GE Healthcare sought a materials supplier that could efficiently meet diverse application requirements ranging from chemical resistance for work surfaces, light weight for drawer doors, and transparency for the gas scavenger system. GE Plastics was able to supply multiple materials from its diverse product portfolio to meet these needs while providing value-added services such as material selection and application development support.
“Patient safety and accuracy are paramount with anesthesia delivery, but hospitals also have to consider cost, maintenance, and durability when they invest in a delivery system,” said Pedro Torres, strategic sourcing leader,
GE Healthcare. “By working with one resin supplier on multiple components of this system, we aimed to achieve savings in cycle time and cost. The key was finding a vendor to meet the wide range of performance needs – and GE Plastics, with its extensive product portfolio, facilitated the identification and selection of materials for different component requirements. But GE Plastics wasn’t an automatic shoe-in just because they are a GE business. They had to prove themselves just like any other supplier.”
The GE Aisys perioperative care station integrates devices, therapies, and information systems at the point of need. Superior ventilation and full monitoring of vital signs are combined with GE clinical information systems to help hospitals provide safe and accurate care for patients. The Aisys Carestation integrates with hospital information systems and
GE Centricity™ anesthesia systems, which collects and documents anesthesia delivery and physiological data. This consistent record of a patient's status contributes to informed decision-making while improving hospital efficiency.
Because anesthesiologists work in a very tight space, the all-in-one Aisys Carestation was designed to provide a reduced footprint. To maximize mobility and reduce clutter, the device offers innovative features such as CableCare, an innovative cable management solution, and INview™ Patient Displays mounted on a moveable arm with 360 degrees of rotation.
Three different high-performance GE resins are used in the Aisys device:
“Using the same supplier for multiple resins in a given application can provide a competitive advantage to medical device manufacturers by streamlining the specification process,” said Clare Frissora market director for Healthcare at GE Plastics. “GE Plastics offers a broad portfolio as well as a number of value-added services, and is well-positioned to enable development of complex systems like the Aisys Carestation. Plus, leveraging the combined expertise of two top GE businesses resulted in this true next-generation application,” Frissora said.
For more information on GE Healthcare’s Aisys Carestation anesthesia delivery system, see the link at
GE Healthcare - Aisys CareStation (www.gehealthcare.com/usen/anesthesia/products/anesth_aisyscarestation.html)
For more information on GE Plastics’ broad portfolio of materials for the healthcare industry, go to GE Plastics’ website at www.geplastics.com.
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Notes for editors
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, and treat disease, so their patients can live their lives to the fullest.
GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection, and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a US$15 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 43,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at
About GE Plastics
GE Plastics (www.geplastics.com) is a global supplier of plastic resins widely used in automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation, performance packaging, building & construction, telecommunications, and optical media applications. The company manufactures and compounds polycarbonate, ABS, SAN, ASA, PPE, PC/ABS, PBT and PEI resins, as well as the LNP* line of high-performance specialty compounds. GE Plastics, Specialty Film & Sheet manufactures high-performance Lexan* sheet and film products used in thousands of demanding applications worldwide. In addition, GE Plastics’ dedicated Automotive organization is an experienced, world-wide competitor, offering leading plastics solutions for five key automotive segments: body panels and glazing; under the hood applications; component; structures and interiors; and lighting. As a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Games, GE is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to a successful Games.
® Aisys and Carestation are registered trademarks of Datex-Ohmeda, Inc., a General Electric company, going to market as GE Healthcare.
™ ABS, Centricity, and INview are trademarks of Datex-Ohmeda, Inc., a General Electric company, going to market as
GE Healthcare.
* Noryl, Ultem, Valox, Lexan, and LNP are trademarks of General Electric Company.
