Inside Cordis Manufacturing Solutions: High-Quality Catheter Components for OEMs & Startups
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): Tony, thanks for having me here at Cordis.
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): Great to have you here. It’s always a pleasure to host visitors in Florida, especially this time of year.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): Let’s dive in. Everyone knows Cordis for drug-eluting balloons, stents, sheaths, and diagnostic catheters. But tell us about Cordis Manufacturing Solutions — why you launched it and what you do.
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): Cordis is a world-class manufacturer of diagnostic catheters and advanced interventional delivery systems. We’ve been in this business since the very beginning of interventional cardiology. Our intellectual property portfolio is vast, and we produce many mature products in very high volume.
We’re fully vertically integrated in those products, and we realized that expertise had value in the marketplace. As a finished device company, we’ve worked with many suppliers, seen the levels of quality and collaboration out there, and believed we could do it better. That’s why we launched Cordis Manufacturing Solutions, and today we’re supplying components directly.
Components and Capabilities
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): What types of components are you focused on, and how do you scale them?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): We started with areas of greatest market need: etched PTFE liners, FEP extrusions, and PEEK tubing. These are critical components within catheters alongside processes like reflow, braiding, and extrusion.
We had excess capacity and strong engineering capabilities here at our facility, so we began with those products as the foundation of our offering.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): Supply chain issues have been a challenge in recent years. Did that influence your decision?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): Absolutely. In 2021, global supply chain disruptions created shortages across many component areas. Cordis wasn’t immune, but what set us apart was that we had already developed internal capabilities back in 2016 to support R&D and accelerate product development.
When shortages hit, we scaled those internal processes into a vertically integrated supply chain — about 80% integration. That protected us from volatility, stabilized costs, and made us leaner and more capable in manufacturing our finished devices.
Why Cordis Entered Contract Manufacturing
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): As a medical device company, why did Cordis decide to enter the contract manufacturing space?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): Cordis began as a startup, then was acquired by Johnson & Johnson, who invested heavily in innovation and IP development. Later, we were acquired by Cardinal Health, which focused more on lean manufacturing and digitization.
When private equity took ownership, they recognized that our manufacturing expertise was world-class. Many of our investors also owned or invested in contract manufacturers and encouraged us to enter that market. Cordis Manufacturing Solutions was developed based on that vision.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): There are many contract manufacturers out there. What sets Cordis apart?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): At our core, we are a billion-dollar finished medical device company. We’re not just making components to spec; we’re focused on end-to-end yield. Our engineers know how to dial in components to ensure final catheter performance downstream.
That culture of building to performance, not just specification, makes us very different from traditional contract manufacturers.
Quality and Proprietary Processes
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): You mentioned lean practices and quality. How does Cordis integrate that into contract manufacturing?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): Our quality system comes from our Johnson & Johnson heritage. It hasn’t fundamentally changed — it’s evolved with the products we manufacture today. It’s robust, with field surveillance and device reporting built in.
This world-class quality system is carried into our supplier model, which is why our focus on quality is a true differentiator.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): What unmet needs or challenges are you addressing?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): One example is our proprietary process for etched PTFE liners. It’s unique in the industry and allows us to achieve tighter specifications and higher yields. That enables us to support more complex designs efficiently and cost-effectively.
Scaling for OEMs
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): You’ve shown me the scale of your operations — hundreds of braiders, extrusion systems. How do you scale capabilities for large OEM customers?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): This facility manufactures 50 million catheters annually for Cordis finished devices. Most OEM customers are well below that volume. Because many of our processes are automated or semi-automated, we can share that efficiency with OEMs, even if their volumes don’t justify that investment on their own.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): How do you protect your IP while collaborating with large OEMs?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): We’re transparent, but we don’t disclose the full manufacturing process. Customers can visit our facility, see our capabilities, and understand why we achieve higher yields and lower costs — but we don’t reveal every detail of the process. That’s our “secret sauce.”
Ideal Customers and Partnerships
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): Who is your ideal customer?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): We’re a strong partner for large strategics who value quality, scale, and engineering know-how. But we also selectively work with startups and mid-size companies in high-growth or specialty markets where our expertise creates significant value.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): How do you support early-stage R&D?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): We operate on three tiers. First, through Chamfr, engineers can order components online and receive them in 48 hours. Second, for custom specs, we can deliver components for R&D within two weeks. Third, we can scale into validated production quickly — often within four weeks — because of the capacity we’ve built.
That speed and flexibility give us an advantage over traditional contract manufacturers.
Investment, Scale, and Risk Management
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): OEMs often think large companies can’t move quickly. How is Cordis different?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): We invest aggressively in capital equipment because backorders are our biggest risk. As a finished device company, we can’t afford to miss supply. That constant investment allows us to dedicate capacity to OEM customers while still protecting our own business.
Traditional contract manufacturers may be more conservative, but we have flexibility because of our internal production needs.
Looking Ahead – Integration Across Full Catheter Pathway
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): What’s the long-term vision for Cordis Manufacturing Solutions?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): Today we supply components. But long term, we see integration across the full catheter pathway: braiding, coiling, extrusion, reflow, tipping, molding. We already do this internally for Cordis finished devices, so extending it to OEM customers is a natural evolution.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): What’s your message to engineers at startups or large OEMs?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): We can take development ideas and scale them into manufactured devices. With our production know-how, we support extrusions, braids, FEP, PTFE, and PEEK tubing — helping engineers move from prototype to high-volume production.
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): How do you balance small batch and large production runs?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): About 95% of our manufacturing processes are consistent regardless of order size. The remaining 5% involves fine-tuning — wall thickness, diameters, lengths, tooling. That allows us to serve both R&D and high-volume needs.
Patient Impact
Steve Maxson (Chamfr): Beyond components, how do these capabilities benefit patients?
Tony Anzalone (Cordis): Our mission is to work as if lives depend on it — because they do. Everything we make ultimately goes into devices that save lives. Our robust quality systems, rigorous testing, and focus on patient outcomes are at the core of everything we do.
About Cordis Manufacturing Solutions
Cordis Manufacturing Solutions, a proven leader with over six decades of experience in interventional medical technology, specializes in Precision Manufacturing of critical medical components. Leveraging proprietary equipment and advanced processes, that deliver PTFE liners, FEP tubing and PEEK extrusions with unmatched consistency and performance—truly embodying our commitment to Expertise, Quality, Delivered at Scale.