Why Our New Laboratory Sterilizer Took 4 Years to Develop

January 5, 2014

I’ve been CEO of Consolidated Sterilizer Systems for 6 years now and one thing I’ve learned along the way is to appreciate and embrace customer feedback. Early on in my career I kept hearing conflicting information about the design of our sterilizer doors. I would hear comments like; “Why don’t you offer a vertical sliding door sterilizer?” and “We love your radial-arm, hinged door.” Believe it or not, these seemingly different sets of customers were saying the same thing—that they both had poor experiences with the existing vertical door laboratory sterilizers on the market. Despite this information, we waited. The truth was we knew that vertical door sterilizers were prone to more errors and maintenance than the traditional, “radial arm, hinged” door and we wanted nothing to do with it.

Over the years our customers increasingly asked about a vertical sliding door option. Then another influential voice within our industry started requesting vertical sliding doors: architects and lab planners. These industry insiders liked the way vertical doors looked with their clean lines and how they fit in tight spaces with no swinging door to worry about. It was at this point we could tell the sliding door had become a legitimate need in the market and we put our thinking caps on. We thought if we’re going to offer this, let’s do this right. We decided to figure out how to make the best sliding door sterilizer the market has ever seen.

In 2008, we began a methodical process to develop the best and most reliable vertical door sterilizer the market has seen. We quietly queried our customers, service technicians, and sales teams about the various shortcomings of existing designs. In 2010 we launched our first vertical door sterilizer with manual operation.

Today, with 4 years under our belt and plenty of positive customer response, we are pleased to announce the addition of two new additional vertical door models to our product line. These models have many subtle features that are worth mentioning.

• One common complaint from the field regarding sliding doors is that the door is prone to sticking or jamming due to the gasket not retracting. We overcame this issue by collaborating with our gasket supplier to develop a non-stick gasket that allows it to retract freely.
• Another feature with our version is the ability to open the door either manually or automatically with the press of a button. For some reason, this is not widely offered in the market. We believe this feature not only improves usability, but it also is an important safety feature.

Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how proud we are that these new products were 100% conceived, designed, and ultimately manufactured in the USA, here at our Boston, MA headquarters.

These new models represent thousands of hours of R&D, fabrication, and testing. More so, these new products represent the type of innovation, drive and ingenuity that are a vital part of the CSS brand. We are not just an autoclave manufacturer; at our core we are a company that provides innovative solutions for our customers. I am very proud of the work we’ve done here and look forward to seeing how these new products help improve the everyday experiences of our customers.

Arthur Trapotsis

To view an interactive graphic detailing all the new features of the 26AV and 26BV click here.

To read the official press release for 26AV and 26BV laboratory sterilizers click here.