The medical device coatings industry is highly specialised, which can present a challenge when trying to recruit talent. However, US-based coatings provider Formacoat has a unique approach to developing talent. “There aren’t a lot of people that you can go out and find that have the experience with the medical device coatings – especially applying coatings and the things that we do,” says Matt Ogle, production manager at Formacoat.
Formacoat stocks approximately 100 coatings, including hydrophilic and hydrophobic products, from its trusted vendors, while also providing custom-specific coating services for medical devices. In such a specialist field, training employees internally offers a solution to the demand for skilled workers.
The company emphasises learning on the job and works with universities and colleges near its Minnesota base to recruit interns, ensuring that industry knowledge is passed on to the next generation.
Learning from experience in medical device coatings
Before joining Formacoat almost 13 years ago, Ogle worked as a mechanic and had no experience in medical device coatings. He was approached by Jeff Eibner, the company’s manufacturing engineering manager at the time, and later its director of operations. Sadly, Eibner died at the end of 2021. But his legacy continues – both Formacoat and Ogle, would not be where they are today without him.
“Jeff was definitely my greatest mentor here at Formacoat, with his vast knowledge and experience in the industry,” says Ogle. Despite limited specific experience, Eibner saw potential in Ogle’s transferable skills.
“We’re always building new things, new machinery, new equipment, putting things together, fixing things. So, having that background [as a mechanic] was definitely very helpful to propelling myself here at the company,” says Ogle.
Under Eibner’s guidance, Ogle began to branch out and work on more varied products. He transitioned from his initial role in R&D to a role in production, and within six years became production manager. “I learned everything I could just working closely with Jeff,” he says. “It was a pretty smooth transition and a lot of learning along the way.”
Internships and careers in medical device coatings
Matt Follmer, senior research and development engineer at Formacoat, began his journey with the company as a mid-degree intern. He was then offered a full-time position, which he took up following his final semester at college.
Since graduating, Follmer has spent almost five years working at Formacoat. His role now includes attending trade shows and serving on the safety committee, as well as designing experiments. He even ended up rebuilding one of the company’s instruments.
Like Ogle, Follmer benefited from a hands-on approach to talent development from the start of his career. “You’re allowed to fail without feeling like it’s going to be the end of the world,” he says. “They’ll let you be on your own a little bit, and then they’ll come back and help tweak things.”
This is particularly important in research and development – because mistakes and revisions are all part of the job. The environment at Formacoat, says Follmer, “makes you want to try more and try different things and think outside of the box, without feeling like you’re going to be reprimanded.”
Developing talent in medical device coatings
Follmer attended Northland College, the alma mater of Mark Gross, Formacoat CEO and founder. Gross also works with other universities to recruit interns and make use of their new technologies in development.
“He really cultivates people,” says Ogle, who describes how Gross and his wife used to welcome foreign exchange students into their family. One of these students has recently completed a master’s degree in chemistry and is set to start work at Formacoat later this year. Like Follmer, she previously worked at the company as an intern.
“Having an open mind and taking criticism well from other people, being open to communication between your team and being able to grow from that makes you very successful here at Formacoat,” adds Ogle.
The company operates under Gross’s philosophy of instant feedback, rather than restricting it to an episodic review. Interns and recruits can expect to learn continually, whether about the chemical processes of device coating, or another area of the business. Unlike other firms, work is practical from the start.
For Ogle, this is crucial. “Nobody really knows how the coating process and the chemistry work until they dive in and get into it,” he adds. “You don’t learn a whole lot until you actually get your hands on and see how the operations and how the process works.”
Formacoat’s track record of developing and nurturing talent is a key part of the company’s success, with the framework firmly in place for this to continue long into the future.
