The Tech Group was established in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1967 by Steve Uhlmann with a focus on tool building for the plastic injection molding industry. Uhlmann, an avid pilot and tech savvy engineer, was always on the cutting edge of new technology introductions. By the early1980s, Uhlmann and partners recognized the growing demand for not only precise, complex molds but high quality manufacturing services. The Tech Group differentiated itself from other molders by offering a state of the art tool shop with a robust engineering group. The company grew within Arizona and expanded its offerings in injection molding and contract assembly for the medical device, pharmaceutical, and consumer markets. The company experienced tremendous growth within Arizona, with several key accounts based in California.
As a market leader, The Tech Group continued to focus on embracing new technologies and quickly developed an expertise in multi-shot molding, insert molding and the use of pressure transducers. By 1993, the company expanded outside Arizona into Puerto Rico to support the growing healthcare business with Baxter Corporation and then further expanded into Dublin, Ireland in 1998 to support growing global customer needs.
By 2003, The Tech Group had reached $200 million in sales, employed over 1,500 team members with 16 manufacturing sites throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. In addition, The Tech Group established a dedicated Process Excellence department, a Customer Engineering Center in Scottsdale, Arizona and an Engineering R&D center in Dublin, Ireland.
In 2005, The Tech Group was acquired by West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., a global leader in the manufacturing of components and systems for injectable drug delivery. There were several synergies between West and The Tech Group. In it’s early years, West pioneered efforts which enabled the widespread distribution of life-saving drugs such as penicillin and insulin. More recently, West’s services span early stage product development through clinical, commercial launch and post-launch production. The combined capabilities and expertise of The Tech Group and West have created one of the world’s leading manufacturers of pharmaceutical delivery systems, medical devices and components.