Sanderson MacLeod Announces Leadership Transition

Posted on March 9, 2011

Eric Sanderson, Owner and CEO of Palmer, Massachusetts based Sanderson MacLeod, has announced the appointment of Mark N. Borsari to President and the retirement of his predecessor Jim Pascale.

Borsari joined Sanderson MacLeod in 2007 as Vice President of Strategy & Development. A veteran in the manufacturing sector, Borsari has extensive prior senior level leadership experience. His education includes an MBA from Western New England College and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Villanova University.

During his four years as Vice President at Sanderson MacLeod, Borsari maintained the company’s market leadership in manufacturing mascara brushes for the cosmetic industry while significantly expanding the medical, industrial, general cleaning and firearm markets. In addition, he has led an enterprise-wide LEAN manufacturing initiative, achieved record setting sales levels and was the inventor and product development leader of a newly launched patent-pending product, the Z-Tip, a revolutionary new way of putting a protective tip on a twisted wire brush. “Mark has clearly demonstrated that he possesses the vision, skills and energy to take this company to the next level of success.” said Sanderson. “Every one of our employees has reason to be very excited about our future.”

Pascale is retiring after a 46 year career in manufacturing including 20 years as President of Sanderson MacLeod. During the years that Pascale was President, Sanderson MacLeod experienced significant growth and developed into an international leader in the production of twisted wire brushes. “Jim had an enormously positive impact on our company,” said Eric Sanderson. “His engineering aptitude and passion for quality set the standard by which we operate. Because of his contributions, we are positioned extremely well for the future.”

Sanderson MacLeod has proudly produced domestically made twisted wire brushes for more than 50 years. A leader in the market, the company employs more than 100 people in a state-of-the-art facility in Palmer, Massachusetts and utilizes a modern FDA compliant Quality Control Laboratory to ensure product quality.

Sanderson MacLeod’s Z-Tip is nominated for the ABMA Innovation Excellence Award.

Posted December 10, 2010

Sanderson MacLeod’s Z-Tip is a revolutionary new protective brush tip for twisted wire brushes. The company has a patent pending on the invention and is manufacturing the Z-Tip for endoscopic cleaning brushes and cytology brushes. Sanderson MacLeod developed the Z-Tip to create a smoother, safer and stronger protective tip; because traditional methods, such as molded and acrylic tips; can cause problems like scratching, scarring and detachment of the tip from the brush. In setting out to find a better way to solve these problems, Sanderson MacLeod searched beyond the brush industry and found the answer in material joining engineering. As a result of many rounds of research, trials and testing; the company devised a new manufacturing process using high energy fusion welding technologies. As a result, the company is able to melt a pre-constructed core wire section of a twisted wire brush into a consistent, smooth and inseparable protective tip – the Z-Tip.

You can read the full ABMA announcement.

Sanderson MacLeod & Z-Tip featured in The Republican

Posted October 10, 2010

Sanderson MacLeod and its patent pending Z-Tip medical brush featured in The Republican. Click here to read full article.

Z-Tip Twisted Wire Medical Brush featured in Medical Design Magazine

Posted September 2010

Z-Tip Twisted Wire Medical Brush featured in the September issue of Medical Design Magazine, the source for the design and manufacturing of medical devices. More information about Medical Design can be found at http://medicaldesign.com/.

A direct link to the article can be found here.

Z-Tip featured in Brush Scene Magazine

Posted August 8, 2010

Sanderson MacLeod’s new twisted wire medical brush tip, the Z-Tip; is featured in the July/August edition of Brush Scene Magazine in both German and English. Click here to read the full article in English and German.

Z-Tip Featured in Brushwork Magazine

Posted August 2010

The new Z-Tip endoscope cleaning and cytology brushes are featured in Brushwork Magazine’s July/August edition. More information about Brushwork can be found at http://www.brushworkonline.com/.

Z-Tip Brush’s Innovative Twisted Wire Brush Tip featured in Medical Edge

Posted August 16, 2010

Sanderson MacLeod’s new Z-Tip Brush and it’s innovative twisted wire brush tip have been featured in Medical Edge. Medical Edge features news and innovations for the medical device community and is published by the editors Medical Design. Read the article here www.medicaldesign.com/engineering-prototyping/hardware-access/protective-tips-medical-brushes-20100816/

Sanderson MacLeod’s revolutionary new Z-Tip Brush featured in Broom, Brush & Mop Magazine

Posted July 2010

Sanderson MacLeod’s revolutionary new Z-Tip Brush featured in Broom, Brush & Mop Magazine. Read the article here.

Sanderson MacLeod Donates Brushes to Remove Lint and Preserve our National History

Sanderson MacLeod, based in Palmer since its origins in 1958, and the world leader in the production of twisted wire brushes; is donating the brushes needed by volunteers to remove lint and dust from Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.

The park contains 87 known caves and has about 500,000 visitors each year. Resources found in caves are non-renewable, which means once they’re gone they will never come back. With the high volume of visitors there is a problem with deposits of lint, hair, paper and food along the park. As these materials decompose they create chemicals that damage and discolor cave formations.

The National Park Service is implementing strategies to protect the delicate cave resources. They have a group of volunteers who regularly painstakingly clean and extract pounds and pounds of debris from caves. They need specific brushes to tackle this daunting task.

Patricia Jablonsky, Lint Camp Coordinator for the lint removal project at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, contacted Sanderson MacLeod to see if the company could help. According to Mark Borsari, Vice President of Strategy and Development, “We were thrilled to help this worthy cause. We certainly value the natural beauty of our surroundings here in the Pioneer Valley, and we wanted to help these dedicated volunteers preserve these environmental treasures.”

Sanderson MacLeod employs approximately 100 people in a state-of-the-art, 137,000 square foot facility in Palmer and utilizes a modern, FDA compliant Quality Control Laboratory to ensure product quality. All of its operations are based in Palmer and nothing is manufactured overseas.

Sanderson MacLeod Introduces the Ultimate Medical Brush Tip

Palmer, Massachusetts, USA — Sanderson MacLeod, large volume medical brush manufacturer and long time leader in twisted wire brushes, has introduced the Z-Tip; a revolutionary new protective brush tip for medical brushes.

Sanderson MacLeod is manufacturing the Z-Tip for endoscopic cleaning brushes and cytology brushes. Other applications are currently being developed. According to the company, endoscopy and cytology brushes must have smooth protective tips in order to protect sensitive and expensive equipment and to ensure proper cell collection and patient safety.

“We were determined to develop a new way to manufacture protective medical brush tips, because traditional methods have significant flaws that can lead to scratching, scarring and other problems,” said Mark Borsari, Vice President Strategy & Development for Sanderson MacLeod. “In the ultra competitive healthcare market, our customers have been asking us for years to develop a better, safer, and economically priced protective brush tip. Based upon response from the market, I believe we accomplished our goal.”

One example of a popular method is the insert molded tip that is made by placing the end of a twisted wire brush into an injection mold. With these medical brushes, the tip can fall off leading to scratching and scarring. Plus, the manufacturing process is very costly because it involves manufacturing a mold for each type and size of brush. Another example is the light cured acrylic tip, which is made by dipping the end of a twisted wire brush into plastic or acrylic and using ultraviolet light to cure the substance into a tip. This method can result in a rough surface, or worse, expose the core wire through the tip. This process also involves hazardous fumes, extended curing times and is petroleum-based.

In setting out to find a better way to solve these problems, Sanderson MacLeod searched beyond the brush industry and found the answer in material joining engineering. As a result of many rounds of research, trials and testing; the company devised a new manufacturing process using high energy fusion welding technologies. As a result, the company is able to melt a pre-constructed core wire section of a twisted wire brush or stylet into a consistent, smooth and inseparable protective tip – the Z-Tip.

“The Z-Tip is smoother, stronger and safer than any other protective brush tip available,” said Borsari. Z-Tip advantages include:

It has a mirror-like surface and therefore won’t scratch or scar.
It is made of one-piece construction, which means that the tip cannot fall off, the wire cannot protrude through the tip, and the entire brush is stronger and will not unravel.
It is manufactured in a fully automated inline process that makes the product economical to the buyer and ensures uniformity for every brush.
Because the Z-Tip brush is one metallurgic unit, there are no biocompatibility issues and no need to get separate FDA approval for the tip.
The manufacturing process is not petroleum-based.

Sanderson MacLeod is the only brush manufacturer that specializes solely in twisted wire brushes, and for more than 50 years, has been the source of twisted wire brushes for some of the largest companies in the world. The company has a long history of innovation, including the distinction of inventing the first twisted wire mascara brush. Sanderson MacLeod employs approximately 100 people in a state-of-the-art, 137,000 square foot facility in Palmer, Massachusetts and utilizes a modern, FDA compliant Quality Control Laboratory to ensure product quality.

More information about the Z-Tip medical brush tip can be found at www.ZTipBrush.com.