Watauga Opportunities

finds niche in

medical supplies
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Watauga Opportunities Inc. is hoping to expand opportunity as it explores a niche manufacturing market.

The organization has joined with other regional rehabilitation centers to create and supply custom medical products, an emerging field in which specialization will help the manufacturer adapt to the changing economy.

WOI president Michael Maybee said the specialization will help strengthen the local job market and provide more stability in an era when many large industrial jobs are moving overseas.

“Custom disposable medical products are pretty much offshore-proof,” Maybee said. “This allows for high (worker) esteem, high pay and a way to serve certain hospitals and physicians who want smaller orders that are more customized.”

Watauga Opportunities Inc. is a private, not-for-profit organization located in Boone that provides vocational assessment, career exploration and guidance, as well as work adjustment, developmental activities, and supported employment for people with disabilities. In addition to its job training and rehabilitation services, it also creates other manufacturing and management jobs, with a total workforce of between 90 and 100 people.

The Marketing Association for Rehabilitation Centers was awarded a $400,000 grant from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. The grant will be used to purchase capital equipment for and aid in the development of MARC’s Custom Medical Products initiative. WOI is a partner with seven other agencies in the initiative and will receive $250,000 to help with a needed expansion.

“We are grateful to N.C. Sen. Steve Goss (D-45) and N.C. Rep. Cullie Tarleton (D-93) who both sponsored legislative bills in support of MARC Custom Medical Products,” Maybee said. “It has been inspiring and uplifting to have the community really come out and support us and our mission to serve some of western North Carolina’s most vulnerable citizens. We are already making significant economic advances and this grant will help us do even more.”

A few years ago, WOI purchased a specialized thermaform packaging machine, partly through a loan-grant agreement with Watauga County, based on a contract to make packaging for Christmas tree ornaments. When the ornament company decided to take its operations overseas, WOI scrambled to find ways to keep those workers who were hired on the expectation of continued contracts. Though some workers were laid off, WOI has found new avenues to capitalize on its equipment and labor force.

One current custom medical product includes a plastic cell scraper, used by researchers to remove samples from petri dishes. The scrapers are assembled, sealed in packages and placed in bins for shipping. The manufacturer also makes disposable drape sheets that can be cut to specific sizes. WOI has a prime opportunity to capitalize on the niche market because of its ventilated manufacturing area, which filters out dust until it has 97 percent fewer particles than does typical air. The filtration is particularly important for medical fields such as ophthalmology or biotechnical research, where particles can distort tests and results.

The regional partnership is a positive step because it reassures hospitals and physicians that they won’t have to rely on one single source for their products. If one facility goes down because of equipment or power failure, other agencies can take on the contract. Maybee said the market was a good fit because it usually needed tens of thousands of pieces, enough to offset the cost of setting up the molds and machinery, but typically wasn’t large enough for the customers to justify looking overseas for a bargain.

Maybee expects the first contracts under the new agreement to come by early summer, and WOI is planning to expand its air-controlled manufacturing and processing space by 3,000 to 4,000 square feet.

“This will help replace some of the jobs we lost,” Maybee said. “We are about five or six jobs over where we have been the last couple of years.”

About half of WOI’s workforce are clients who are being trained for the workplace, and often they are hired as production workers. Rehabilitated workers also become local employees in the retail, food service and hospitality industries.

In addition to larger manufacturing projects, WOI handles smaller bulk-mail or other hand-packaging jobs for local agencies and businesses. “We’re always open to two-or-three-day projects from local folks,” Maybee said.

He hopes the growth in medical technology and the increased specialization of medical fields will keep the plant and its workers busy.

“We could add 10 to 12 jobs on two shifts,” he said. “You’re never sure of the numbers until you get the work here, but that’s what we’re looking at.”