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Meet Tapemark’s VP of Engineering, Steve Rau
With over 25 years of pharmaceutical and medical devices experience, Steve is the VP of Engineering for Tapemark and is responsible for process development for everything from converting to shipping, commercial process improvements, and equipment research, design and implementation.
A tip from Steve
"When you’re looking at optimizing a master roll, be sure to take a global approach so that you’re not creating other issues downstream that might be even harder to resolve."
Avoid The obvious solution
With converting, the most obvious solution isn’t always the best one, especially if it leads to greater material waste. Keep your mind open, ask for input, and always look for a better way. Getting input from others can provide a win-win for the customer and yourself. And remember, first potential solution is just a starting point.
an engineer with experience
Steve has an extensive history of working in the pharmaceuticals industry. He is skilled in:
- Verification and Validation (V&V)
- Medical Devices
- Validation
- GMP
- Manufacturing
Steve leads Engineering and R&D for converting and packaging by working closely with customers and his team to develop and improve converting processes. He also leads equipment procurement projects and guides work with the Maintenance and Facilities areas.
In his 25+ years at Tapemark Steve has held many titles: Electrical Engineer, Technical Development Manager, Engineering Manager, Director of Engineering, VP Technical Operations, and now VP of Engineering. And, he has co-authored several patents during his time at Tapemark.
What Tapemark says about Converting
After the mixed coat or API has been coated on certain applications, Tapemark takes the part and does all the die cutting, cartoning, and shipping. We develop the process and the product for our customers, which is interactive, because we're always trying to find out what's best for them.
Our goal is to uncover the true, critical attributes of what our clients want their part to do, including what elements are critical and which elements change. Then, we can make suggestions to increase manufacturability, support quality, and reduce the potential for issues.
We always look at the expense of materials, how that overlays with all the other materials. Our processes vary from three input materials to 15 input materials.
Staying and solving
At Tapemark, we take on projects at all levels of complexity — even the challenges that some of our other competitors can't quite get. Because of the experiences that we have here at Tapemark, we excel at the more difficult processes.
The things that make people stay here at Tapemark are the unique projects that they get from the clients, and the opportunity to develop solutions for real problems. The engineering, problem solving, and people at Tapemark drives people to stay and solve day after day.
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