By Claudio Bui
Healthcare is continuously advancing to deliver improved patient outcomes. First, because it must. Rising health threats—from global pandemics like COVID-19 to antibiotic-resistant infections and complex disorders—require the industry to work faster and smarter. Second, because it can. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are armed with powerful tech and human resources to redefine systems engineered for patient care.
Syringe pump manufacturing in Penang, Malaysia.
At the core of every breakthrough in healthcare technology, whether it’s a diagnostic platform tackling disease detection or an automation system enhancing lab efficiency, are long-term OEM partnerships. These partnerships are built on trust, knowledge sharing and a purpose-driven mission to improve patient outcomes.
Building trust for continuous innovation
First established in 1972 and acquired by Tecan in 1987, Cavro has been a trusted name in liquid handling OEM components for over 50 years. Our pump lines have become the industry standard and are used by top global diagnostic companies.
Our extensive range of Cavro products spans nine ground-breaking lines, from our Cavro XCalibur (XC) for high-performance pipetting to Cavro Omni Flex, our flexible OEM liquid handling robot.
Driven by our impact on public health and safety over the last decades, the Tecan team is motivated to keep innovating, pushing limits, and—importantly—delivering on our mission to equip partners with the solutions they need to transform healthcare for the greater good.
Accelerating OEM development with Cavro components
Time-to-market is critical for most healthcare companies. Cavro components speed up development by providing ease of integration with intuitive evaluation tools that help clients quickly get up and running.
Our wide range of standard components—spanning pumping fluidics via air- or liquid-filled solutions—enable efficient design testing before market launch, allowing you to quickly evaluate your product’s effectiveness and make informed decisions with less financial risk. Should you find that off-the-shelf components don’t meet your needs, Tecan also partners with you to find the best solution, ensuring customization doesn’t become a roadblock to your development.
By launching sooner, you get earlier access to your target market. This upper hand is crucial for establishing a brand presence and generating long-term value while competitors may still be in the development phase.
Built for quality and durability
Tecan looks at the bigger picture to ensure that your products require as little maintenance and enhancements as possible—durable products require less maintenance and incur fewer additional lifetime costs. And, whilst we want our customers to get to market quickly—without the bottlenecks common to instrument development—reliability is never compromised. This promise is a key priority, and we’ve established advanced statistical methods to define reliability testing to ensure this. Additionally, we are in the early stages of applying predictive models to ensure quality and durability for our partners.
Supporting your vision every step of the way
Drawing on our expertise and decades of experience, Tecan guides clients in selecting solutions that align with market conditions to optimize their ROI. In addition to our established Cavro portfolio of off-the-shelf liquid handling pumps, we can develop fully custom components that meet your innovative application needs. Alternatively, we may recommend tailoring our existing pre-designed solutions —ranging from minor adaptations to complex module development.
Personalized support
We can identify what you need most because we care about your goals and take the time to understand them. Each client is supported by a dedicated account manager and a collaborative team to ensure your needs are met and informed decisions are made. Our technical support is also always on hand to troubleshoot and resolve issues.
Industry-leading expertise
Choosing the right component is just one of the many factors you must consider and account for during the development and launch process. Aside from Tecan’s unmatched technical expertise, we also guide our partners through key considerations, such as:
- Manufacturing—At the beginning of a project, it's easy to underestimate the transfer to manufacturing and the creation of testing documentation or manuals. However, these can take time and have significant implications, especially if not dealt with early on. As a Tecan partner, clients benefit from our expertise in these processes.
- Regulations—Regulatory considerations are critical in heavily regulated industries like healthcare, yet they can easily be overlooked, especially by startups juggling numerous priorities and the pressure to go to market. Tecan experts can provide as much guidance as needed to navigate these complex regulatory environments.
- Maintenance—Tecan partners can feel confident that they have a maintenance plan designed to meet their needs. They can trust that our reliable Cavro pumps are built to last, which ensures low cost of ownership.
Tailored partnerships for seamless integration
Each company has a preferred way of working, and Tecan offers the flexibility necessary to suit their style. If you want a fully tailored execution plan, we can bring our expertise to establish workflows that optimize your plans and get you where you want to be faster.
We've also developed processes to adapt to each client's preferred working style, whether they need weekly meetings, ad hoc consultations, or anything in between. Establishing a transparent process and timeline from the get-go ensures seamless execution—even in highly complex projects—and accelerates your time to market.
Long-term support and enhancement
In the spirit of a true partnership, we support our partners throughout the lifecycle of their solutions. Our team goes beyond maintenance requirements and continuously looks for ways to enhance products based on new developments or market needs.
From proactive obsolescence management to second-generation product enhancements, we ensure that our clients can focus on their core expertise while we handle the complexities of product enhancement. Our support is more than just manufacturing, regulatory compliance, and troubleshooting— our eager project team will support you throughout your whole journey.
This commitment to lifecycle management reflects our long-term philosophy. As a partner, we’re invested in our clients’ sustained success, not just the success of a single project.
Enabling future-focused innovation
Building a product and going to market is just the start. As a global organization with multiple research and development sites, we can help you achieve ambitious goals. Whether you want to expand your product range, develop new instruments or scale to new markets, we have the resources to make it happen—with the same focus on balancing superior reliability with breakthrough innovation.
As the industry evolves, so do we. At Tecan, we’re committed to making our entire range of Cavro products smarter, more reliable, and easier to use. By providing our clients with more insights into their processes and reducing operational complexity, we help them maintain a competitive edge.
With decades of expertise, a proven track record, and a proactive, holistic approach, we’re confident that we can help you achieve your goals—no matter how ambitious they may be. Ready to take the next step? Talk to an expert today to explore how Tecan can help you innovate, streamline, and scale effectively.
Keywords:
About the author

Claudio Bui
Claudio Bui is the Head of Product Concepts for the Partnering Business in the Components Marketing Team. The primary function of his team is to work closely with customers to develop new concepts and proposals based on a thorough analysis of their specific requirements. Claudio started at Tecan in 1990 in R&D developing Components and has been involved in the development of a number of small laboratory instruments. In 2005, he joined the Marketing team.