How Additive Manufacturing Will Improve the Design of Medical Devices

MedTech Outlook | Wednesday, November 25, 2020

The medical device manufacturing companies are adopting additive manufacturing so that they can improve the design of the implants.

FREMONT, CA: Most of the time, the field of healthcare is considered as one of the most dynamic. Every change in the sector is moving rapidly, starting from the speed at which development is happing, the way surgeries are performed, to the development of new innovative therapies. There are also numerous transformations in the process of manufacturing medical devices. Worldwide manufacturing is going through a change because the companies are introducing the power of additive manufacturing (AM) in the workflows combined with the traditional technologies.

The medical device industry is also not an exception in the change as many specialized manufacturers have started to adopt AM's benefits in improving the design of implants and instruments. The industry is also using the power of additive solutions in the form of end-to-end workflow that consists of hardware, services, materials, and software to decrease the number of processing steps and components in a device. It will also help them to reduce the expense of manufacturing.

In the last few years, the revolution is happening in the spine industry, where interbody fusion devices were exclusively made by utilizing materials like PEEK and manufacturing by using the traditional subtractive manufacturing procedure. Now, the spine industry has started to embrace 3D printing to introduce products that will promote bone ingrowth. The new innovative technologies will also help to enhance the implant fixation to host bone. The printing devices even decrease the number of manufacturing steps, which makes the additive process more cost-efficient in many situations. The idea of additive manufacturing is also boosting innovation as it can bring a highly efficient product to the market with reduced cost and improved standards.

Medical device manufacturing is one of the highly regulated procedures and when the companies want to incorporate innovative technologies in the businesses, they have to make several considerations to ensure success. The most crucial part is the qualification and validation of the solution. It extends not only to the materials and hardware but also to the supply chain. There can be several challenges at multiple levels in qualifying the new materials for 3D printing technology in healthcare. The medical device manufacturers are applying AM into the workflow so that they can benefit from the expertise of an experienced partner.

Check out: Top 3D Printing Solution Companies