23. August 2010 / Ionbond AG Olten (Switzerland), a specialist for premium thin film coating technologies, announced a financial restructuring with existing debt holders and shareholders that puts the company on a firm financial foundation.  The overall debt level of the company has been halved and a significant amount of cash is being invested for future growth.

The refinancing comes as the hard coating industry emerges from a period of recovery and consolidation.  Ionbond supplies high performance PVD, PACVD and CVD coatings to the tools, industrial, medical, automotive, and decorative industries.

“We are very excited about securing this refinancing and about the future of Ionbond.  The conclusion of this deal ensures Ionbond has the necessary financial liquidity and investment capacity to fund our growth strategy.  With our new structure in place the management team can now increase its focus on our customers and meeting their requirements,” says Joe Haggerty, CEO of Ionbond.

Ionbond fared better than many industry competitors during the economic downturn due to a diverse product and customer base.  Company-wide efforts to lower fixed costs and improve productivity give the company the needed flexibility to take advantage of the market recovery.  Compared to 2009, sales this year are increasing by double digits across nearly all coating services market segments and in the coating equipment market.

The refinancing was led by Barclays Ventures and Credit Suisse and each now holds 42.5% of the Company shares.

For further information please contact: philip.krueger@ionbond.com, T + 41 62 287 8686

About Barclays Ventures
Barclays Ventures is the in-house private equity arm of Barclays Corporate. The business was established in 1997 and has a strong track record of working with management teams to deliver shareholder value growth both organically and via acquisitions.  Our expanding portfolio currently consists of over 50 assets covering a broad range of sectors.   We continue to work proactively with the Barclays Group to seek opportunities where we can apply our equity expertise and investment capability.

Further information about Barclays Ventures can be found at: www.barclaysventures.com

About Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse AG is one of the world's leading financial services providers and is part of the Credit Suisse group of companies (referred to here as 'Credit Suisse'). As an integrated bank, Credit Suisse offers clients its combined expertise in the areas of private banking, investment banking and asset management. Credit Suisse provides advisory services, comprehensive solutions and innovative products to companies, institutional clients and high-net-worth private clients globally, as well as to retail clients in Switzerland. Credit Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and operates in over 50 countries worldwide. The group employs approximately 49,200 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse's parent company, Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York.

Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at: www.credit-suisse.com

Rockaway, NJ, August 19, 2010— Ionbond announces it will exhibit at the The Fifth Annual Orthopedic Design & Technology (ODT) Conference & Exhibition on September 22-23 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne, Ind. Visit us at booth 509.

Ionbond will feature information related to our coating processes and services for the medical device industry. We are an ISO 13485 certified location, providing certified biocompatible coatings according to ISO 10993-1 for medical instruments and implant applications.

“Ionbond has exhibited at ODT since its inception and we have found it to be a very important part of our customer information program,” commented Ray Fontana, Global Segment Manager for Coating Services.

The ODT Conference & Exhibition is a global event that brings together orthopedic finished goods manufacturers, suppliers and surgeons for networking, general sessions, panel discussions, targeted conference sessions and select exhibitors.

“We are excited to celebrate the orthopedic industry’s innovation and our dedication to providing a valuable learning and networking opportunity to this vibrant sector,” said Howard Revitch, group publisher of Orthopedic Design & Technology magazine.

Onsite registration is open. Visit www.odtexpo.com to register, access additional information and to access sponsorship opportunities. Admission is complimentary for qualified OEMs!

Monday, August 16, 2010, Olten, Switzerland – Ionbond announced today the successful ISO 13485:2003 certification of its USA Rockaway, New Jersey service center.  It is the second Ionbond center globally to be awarded the certification and adds to the planned expansion of the medical device coating service business globally.

“ISO 13485:2003 is the defining standard of service organizations for safe and effective processing of medical devices,” explains Ray Fontana, Global Segment Manager of Medical Services for Ionbond. “It is part of our continuing program to be the global supplier for medial device coatings. “This certification reflects the high priority Ionbond places on providing consistent coatings for medical devices.”

Ionbond Rockaway is also certified to ISO 9001:2008, has achieved certification of biocompatibility according to ISO 10993-1, employs IQ, OQ, PQ validated systems and has US FDA Master Files for Medical Devices (MAF). These coatings are approved for use in medical devices – with further innovative developments in the pipeline.

Joe Haggerty, CEO at Ionbond adds: “This is the second of several certifications that are in progress to fully develop our worldwide network of coating centers devoted to medical coatings. Our goal is to have a network of seven sites with ISO 13485 certification within the next 12 months including Switzerland, China, Malaysia,  UK and two sites in France."


For more information please contact Philip.Krueger@ionbond.com

Monday, August 16, 2010 - Extra-hard coatings made from diamond-like carbon (DLC) extend the operating lifetime of tools and components. In artificial joints, however, these coatings often fail because they detach. Empa researchers found out why – and developed methods to both make the interface between the DLC layer and the metal underneath corrosion-resistant and to predict the lifetime of the implants.

Whether on computer hard disks, saw blades, embossing tools, razor blades or fuel-injection nozzles, extremely hard coatings made of diamond-like carbon (DLC) have proven their value over and over again. They reduce wear and thereby give tools and components a longer operating lifetime. What could be more logical than to apply DLC to medical implants such as artificial joints, reasoned a number of implant manufacturers. After all, wear is a problem there, too.

DLC has subsequently withstood endless in vitro tests in several manufacturers’ laboratories and has shown itself to be well tolerated by human tissue, extremely hard wearing, and resistant to the relatively aggressive environment in the human body. Despite this, when DLC-coated joints were first implanted into human patients, serious problems arose after only a few years. The DLC coatings were not worn away, but rather they detached from the implant material for no apparent reason.

Taking aims at the interface

In a project financed by the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency (CTI) together with the medical technology company Synthes and the coating company Ionbond AG, Empa researchers sought out the cause of this detachment. For this, the researchers conducted detailed studies of the interface between the implant material and the coating. "When two materials are placed in contact with each other, the result is a reaction layer at the interface between them, which is only several atomic layers thick. Thus a new material is formed, which we investigated now for the first time", explains Roland Hauert of Empa's "Nanoscale Materials Science" laboratory.

His team showed that the so far barely considered reaction layer, which is not always completely corrosion resistant, is responsible for the detachment of the DLC layer. On the one hand, stress corrosion cracking occurred in the reaction layer. The mechanical load in conjunction with the penetration of body fluids led to slow-growing cracks, which in turn caused the DLC substrate to detach little by little.

In other cases, crevice corrosion was responsible for the damage. Over time, an aggressive, acidic medium develops in fine crevices and slowly dissolves the reaction layer or the additional adhesive layer, likewise leading to detachment.

Methods to determine operating lifetime
But the Empa team didn't stop there; together with their industry partners Synthes and Ionbond, they developed a corrosion-resistant intermediate layer at the interface to the DLC layer. What's more, the researchers also developed a process that can determine a crack’s growth rate under conditions similar to those experienced in the human body as well as the dissolution rate of the reaction layer in cases of crevice corrosion. "This then allows us to calculate the expected operating lifetime of the coated implant in the human body", says Roland Hauert. Whether or not a DLC-coated implant will fail prematurely in vivo can henceforth already be determined during the development of the product.

For further informationen

Dr. Markus Tobler, Ionbond AG, Tel. +41 62 287 85 69, markus.tobler@ionbond.com
Dr. Roland Hauert, Empa, Nanoscale Materials Science, Tel. +41 44 823 45 58, roland.hauert@empa.ch
Dr. Cyril Voisard, Synthes GmbH, Tel. +41 32 720 73 07, Voisard.Cyril@synthes.com

Wednesday, July 21, 2010, Olten, Switzerland – Ionbond announced today the successful ISO 13485:2003 certification of its UK service centre.  It is the first Ionbond centre globally to be awarded the certification and also the first Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) surface engineers in the UK to achieve ISO 13485:2003 certification.
“ISO 13485:2003 defines the role and responsibilities of service organisations for safe and effective medical devices,” explains Dr Chris Constable, UK General Manager at Ionbond.  “Our rapid certification reflects the high priority Ionbond places on coatings for medical devices.”

An internationally recognised standard, ISO 13485:2003 assures a harmonized set of quality management system requirements for medical device manufacturers and service providers. This standard is currently being adopted by the medical industry and regulatory agencies around the world.

“This certification demonstrates our commitment to the highest internationally recognised standards of process control and product verification,” says Dr Constable. “It provides a common basis for development and qualification of solutions together with our clients – both now and for the future.”

Ionbond UK is also certified to ISO 9001:2008, AS 9100 (Aerospace) and NADCAP (Aerospace) and maintains a comprehensive quality management system, providing an excellent foundation for ISO 13485:2003. Ionbond has a broad portfolio of advanced bio-compatible PVD coatings including titanium nitride, zirconium nitride and A-DLC.  These coatings are approved for use in medical devices – with further innovative developments in the pipeline.

Joe Haggerty, CEO at Ionbond adds: “This is the first of several certifications that are in progress to fully develop our worldwide network of coating centres devoted to medical coatings. Our goal is to have a network of seven sites with ISO 13485 certification within the next 12 months including Switzerland, the USA, China, Malaysia and two sites in France."

For more information please contact Philip.Krueger@ionbond.com

01.04.2009
IonBond will be introducing its new PVD system called the Roadrunner at CIMT, 6th - 11th April 2009 in Beijing, China. This is the company's first appearance at Asia's leading tradeshow.

Designed for rapid cover of complex coating structures on carbide inserts, the fully automatic, computer controlled‚ Roadrunner is a plug and play deposition system. Flexible and robust, the system offers reliability and the added benefit of low installation costs. Roadrunner operates by mixing both planar and round arc sources in the same system and allows the deposition of up to 4 materials simultaneously. But the primary benefit of the Roadrunner is its enormous productivity due to its very short cycle time and large coating volume. This is especially important in the carbide insert market.

"Efficiency and sustainability are extremely important in China and the introduction of the highly sophisticated and flexible Roadrunner coating system with its small footprint and high productivity should attract a lot of attention," said Joe Haggerty, CEO of IonBond. "In the last few years Asia and China have become the most important growth markets for IonBond. This is a direct result of the metal processing industry moving production to the Far East. China is particularly important for us as we have three IonBond coating centres based there, handling customers primarily in the cutting tool, aerospace and medical industries. We are used to working with a very demanding customer base where the need for high quality and productivity is essential," concluded Haggerty.

In addition to the Roadrunner PVD system, IonBond will offer its complete line of Bernex CVD equipment, which is recognised worldwide for its quality, innovation and reliability. Used in highly specialised fields such as coating the cooling channels for turbine blades for aircraft engines and other high-tech domains in aerospace and medical technology, the IonBond CVD coatings are greatly valued due to their excellent adherence, extreme durability and broad range of solutions. IonBond is the only company in the industry that offers systems for all three major technologies for wear resistant coatings, PVD, PACVD, and CVD. IonBond AG Olten has production centres in China, Malaysia, Korea and India and has a joint-venture partner in Thailand. As well as the Switzerland-based headquarter, IonBond has 44 coating centres in North America, Europe and Asia.

27.07.2008
Dr.Antonio Santana (36) has been named as European Product Manager for IonBond's Medical Segment "Medthin". Dr.Santana will be in charge of market and product development for the region and will provide expertise and support to customers throughout Europe through IonBond's vast coating network. This network includes dedicated medical coating facili-ties in both Switzerland and the UK.
Dr.Santana obtained his PhD from the EPF in Lausanne in the field of thin film physics and worked at CERN in thin film development for applications in Ex-treme High Vacuum. Both at CERN and at EPFL he cumulated 8 years of broad experience in Plasma Physics and Solid State Physics which he complemented with an MBA at the Geneva University. Since joining IonBond in 2005 as an R&D manager, Dr. Santana has been responsible for developing new coatings for the medical market as well as for many other industrial appli-cations.