Author: Contributing Editor Bruce Morey
Date: 5/14/2013
To a mechanical engineer, the human body is filled with perplexing shapes. Replacing its parts, or designing tools to operate on it, is a challenge. The body’s uneven, organic shapes are difficult to replicate with standard machine tools, which are more accustomed to cutting straight lines or drilling round holes. But additive manufacturing, which gives designers the freedom to create complex, organic shapes, seems a natural fit.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Michael C. Anderson
Date: 5/1/2013
A look at the qualities and challenges of some medical metals with ATW Companies' Tracy MacNeal
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor Ilene Wolff
Date: 5/1/2013
Lasers get more powerful, accurate and affordable, improving productivity of laser marking and cutting
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor Bruce Morey
Date: 5/1/2013
Medical device manufacturers have unique and heavy reporting requirements. Providers of metrology equipment and inspection software are making strides towards helping them respond.
Full Article Author: Donna Bibber, President and CEO, Micro Engineering Solutions
Date: 5/1/2013
Micro machining of micro molds nowenable thin-walled micro injection molding in thermoplastic, silicone, and metal
Full Article Author: marcus evans Summits
Date: 4/4/2013
The Medical Device Manufacturing Summit is the premium forum bringing together senior medical device manufacturing executives and leading solution providers.
Full Article Author: Editor in Chief Sarah A. Webster
Date: 3/27/2013
Additive manufacturing is growing fast in the medical field, fueled by more materials and a better understanding of the possibilities.
Full Article Author: Chris Wacker, Executive Vice President, Laserfiche
Date: 3/1/2013
It is hard to imagine work that requires more precision, more attention to detail or more obsession with perfection than that of medical parts maker rms Co. of Minneapolis (and yes, that’s “rms” uncapitalized). The brains, hearts, spines and other body parts that rely on the parts rms makes to support and hold them together demand perfection, and rms has met that demand since 1967.
Full Article Author: Robert Currie, Director, Baxter International Inc.
Date: 2/25/2013
Since the establishment of its first waste reduction goals in 1996, Baxter Healthcare Corporation has made minimizing waste one of its top environmental priorities—sometimes by using waste in unique ways. One of Baxter’s sustainability priorities and goals for 2015 is to reduce total waste generation 30%, indexed to revenue from 2005 baseline. Because Baxter sites generate different types of waste, the company’s total waste goal, which combines non-hazardous and regulated waste, encourages each site to focus on reduction efforts for waste streams most relevant to its own operations.
Full Article Author: Editor in Chief Sarah A. Webster
Date: 1/1/2013
The toolholding industry is launching new systems for gripping, clamping and locking, as well as deadening vibrations. It's also expanding its toolholder lineup, going ever bigger for applications in the energy, machinery and heavy-duty transportation markets and ever smaller for medical and aerospace parts.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak
Date: 1/1/2013
Micro components continue to shrink in size, demanding ever-greater precision and improved handling of parts with sub-micron-sized features. New approaches in micro machining technology include higher-precision systems from traditional micro machining developers, as well as techniques using additive manufacturing processes and semiconductor wafer-scale technology on the smallest of micro parts.
Full Article Author: Riley Phipps, Technical and Design Services Manager, Value Plastics Inc., a Nordson Company
Date: 12/11/2012
The latest generation of plastic connectors enable more versatile, user-friendly and cost-effective options for the design of instrumentation and equipment used in mission-critical laboratory and industrial applications
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Jim Lorincz
Date: 12/1/2012
In 2005 connector manufacturing wasn’t what it had been. In a flurry of outsourcing, US shops were steadily losing business to China and India, and economy-wide financial turbulence lay just around the corner. Rather than wallow in the impending doom and gloom, Senga Engineering (Santa Ana, CA) had another plan.
Full Article Author: Edited by Senior Editor Jim Lorincz
Date: 7/1/2012
For many industries, composites are the material of choice for achieving lightweight, fuel-efficient and strong designs. The challenge going forward for engineers is to take full advantage of the properties of composites by using advanced analysis tools to predict margins of safety, performance, cost, and design for manufacturability.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak
Date: 5/1/2012
Lasers cut, weld and mark the metal alloys and polymers used to build the latest medical implant breakthroughs, surgical instruments, and other related medical products. Many key characteristics of today’s lasers make the devices ideal for use in medical applications such as cutting stents and endoscopes, pacemaker components and other medical components.
Full Article Author: Arif Sirinterlikci & Michael Shaffer, School of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science, Robert Morris University
Date: 5/1/2012
Orthotics is a field concerned with design, manufacture, and implementation of orthopedic devices called orthoses. An orthosis can be as simple as a splint, band, helmet, or a brace that is more complex in nature. These devices are used with body segments such as joints, extremities, even the skull, for a variety of reasons—assisting, restricting, or stopping movement, reducing forces exerted, and helping promote tissue healing.
Full Article Author: Tom Filippo, General Manager, Dynomax, & Megan Krizman, Buyer, Dynomax
Date: 5/1/2012
Challenges (both large and small) arise in the manufacturing industry every day. The nature of the industry is problem-solving, and Dynomax Inc., founded in 1986 by CEO Richard Zic and headquartered in the Chicago land area, has battled and conquered its fair share of challenges. The company serves the medical, aerospace/defense, transportation, and energy industries.
Full Article Author: Editor in Chief Sarah A. Webster
Date: 5/1/2012
Navigating the medical manufacturing industry these days reminds me of that game Minesweeper, where you try to clear a virtual minefield without blowing up a mine. You don’t know where the next mine will be, but you try to make educated guesses about what’s next and prepare. Yes, medical manufacturing is a landscape full of uncertainties.
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor Bruce Morey
Date: 5/1/2012
Machining parts makes money—everyone knows that. Measuring them, on the other hand, is not productive time. It is often considered a necessary evil, an overhead expense to be endured. Such an attitude is not always the case for those who think ahead.
Full Article Author: Terry Wohlers, Principal Consultant & President, Wohlers Associates Inc.
Date: 4/1/2012
Additive manufacturing (AM) has never received so much attention. The Economist, Forbes, USA Today, and countless other mainstream and technical publications and blogs have brought the technology to the forefront. Large aerospace companies, such as Boeing, GE Aviation, and Airbus, are hard at work qualifying AM processes and materials for flight.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Jim Lorincz
Date: 3/1/2012
When Rob Simmons, owner of Machine Specialties Inc. (MSI; Whitsett, NC), listened to a seminar speaker in 2005 discussing the looming economic downturn, he raised his hand to comment. "I’m not going to participate in that," he stated. And he didn’t.
Full Article Author: SME Director of Membership Joseph J. LaRussa
Date: 3/1/2012
Growth is many things. It’s a business objective, a sign of health, a personal goal, and a measure of satisfaction. SME and its members consider growth to be all of these, and together we’re achieving it. Considering growth as a business objective, SME membership grew by 4% in 2011. More than 6700 new members joined the Society in 2011, demonstrating that our value promise to our members is strong and compelling. Full Article
Author: Bryan Hughes & Eric Valyko, P&M Corporate Finance LLC
Date: 3/1/2012
Several key dynamics are currently impacting the medical device industry. Those that are the subject of this article include sweeping regulatory changes, a shift in demand, and the economic challenge facing the industry amidst the 2.3% medical tax that will become effective in 2013.
Full Article Author: Arif Sirinterlikci, Samantha Pogel, Justin Wissinger
School of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science
Robert Morris University
Date: 1/1/2012
A new breed of medical devices is being equipped with antimicrobial technology to prevent microbial contamination and infections. In the US alone, about 1.7 million cases of infections occur annually, causing approximately 99,000 deaths and $45 billion in added healthcare costs reported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and various other resources.
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Author: Contributing Editor Bruce Morey
Date: 5/1/2011
For those who manufacture medical devices, the thinking is personal. "We have the attitude that any of our parts could go into any of our children, or our mothers, tomorrow," explains Jeff Corey, senior calibrations technician for ATEK Medical (Grand Rapids, MI).
Full Article Author: Lorin Jovag, Manufacturing Engineer, Physio-Control Inc.
Date: 5/1/2011
For more than 55 years, Physio-Control Inc. (Redmond, WA), a unit of Medtronic Inc. (Fridley, MN), has been a manufacturer of portable external heart defibrillator/cardiac monitors, which are considered Class III medical devices. Its Lifepak brand is known for quality and rugged design, and is one of the most-recognized brands in medical devices.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak
Date: 5/1/2011
With demand for joint replacements exploding as populations age, materials used by medical implant and medical device manufacturers continue to evolve. Metallurgists and materials scientists are seeking more-innovative ways to improve the quality and longevity of surgical implants.
Full Article Author: Editor Brian J. Hogan
Date: 5/1/2011
The success of the laser as a tool for manufacturing medical devices has occurred due to an alignment of its features to that of the industry. Those requirements for high quality, accuracy, miniaturization, and reliability match up well with the laser’s inherent fine resolution, high controllability, and stability.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak
Date: 5/1/2010
While lasers for surgical applications get a lot of attention because of innovative uses in life-critical surgeries, LASIK eye procedures, and plastic surgery, deployment of industrial lasers in manufacturing of medical implants, devices, and other components has increased immensely as demand grows with aging populations.
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor Bruce Morey
Date: 5/1/2010
From optical comparators to computed tomography, metrology equipment is adapting to aid advances in medical manufacturing
Full Article Author: La Roux K. Gillespie
Date: 6/1/2009
Edge finishing is a relatively new term in manufacturing. It's a new and deeper focus on what many used to call deburring, edge honing, edge preparation, edge prepping, burring, chamfering, or edge blending. Edge finishing goes beyond any of those definitions. Deburring, which is often considered wasted effort by managers, wrongly carries a negative connotation.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Robert B. Aronson
Date: 5/1/2009
Physicians use lasers to cut, fuse, and repair elements of the human body. And, because of their unique capabilities, lasers often play a key role in the manufacture of medical equipment. Because of the increase in types, power levels, and operating simplicity of lasers, their application to both medical roles is rapidly expanding. The trend to minimally invasive surgery has provided an ideal role for lasers.
Full Article Author: Robert B. Aronson
Date: 5/1/2008
Body-part replacement challenges manufacturing engineers and designers
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Robert B. Aronson
Date: 10/1/2007
Opportunities for new and renewed products
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor James R. Koelsch
Date: 9/1/2007
Medical manufacturers make money by marshalling the resources in their software
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Robert B. Aronson
Date: 9/1/2007
This article is the first of two covering new and renewed products developed for producing medical devices. Part 2 will appear in our October issue.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak
Date: 5/1/2007
Multiaxis, HSM, and mill-turn machining strategies help turn out medical components
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor Michael Tolinski
Date: 5/1/2007
For small, delicate part applications, lasers deliver stable, accurate energy for cutting, marking, and welding
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak
Date: 2/1/2007
Direct-metal and plastics-based prototyping processes enable manufacturers to quickly produce parts and tooling the greatest benefits." To order a hardcopy reproduction of this article, click here. To purchase digital reprints or reproduction licenses, please contact the resource center at service@sme.org or call (800) 733-4763.
Full Article Author: Senior Editor Robert B. Aronson
Date: 5/1/2006
The medical market is one of the few areas of manufacturing that showed an increase in sales during the last recession and it continues to generate predictions of significant long-term gains. It’s no wonder so many companies from the Fortune 500 to job shops are now participating or at least looking for chances to be part of this market.
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor James R. Koelsch
Date: 5/1/2006
They “soothe the pain” caused by new materials, tighter tolerances, more stringent regulations, and greater cost pressures
Full Article Author: Justin Testa, Senior Vice President of ID Products, Cognex Group.
Date: 5/1/2006
Data Matrix code, a two-dimensional symbology, permits manufacturers to encode text and numbers on a part
Full Article Author: Contributing Editor Michael Tolinski
Date: 5/1/2006
Medical manufacturers seek and find inspection technology that’s appropriate to their special needs
Full Article Author: Editor in Chief Sarah A. Webster
Fusion isn’t just a delight to your palette or ears when it mixes food or sounds together in creative new ways. It’s also good for business. Fusion, where distinct elements meet, can also result in the cross-pollination of ideas, mixing up a potential cocktail of innovation. That’s the idea behind MFG4, to be held from May 8–10 in Hartford, CT.
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