A simple solution for complex medical devices

In the medical industry, there’s little room for error – not only in procedures, but also in the manufacturing of medical devices and surgical tools. This is especially true as technology such as robotic-assisted surgery enables procedures of increased delicacy and precision. Surgical tools must be manufactured with extremely tight tolerances, which can be a challenge for manufacturers.

Intech Medical manufactures orthopedic devices such as implants and surgical instruments. At its Athens, Alabama facility, the company recently completed a 40,000ft² expansion, bringing its total surface area to more than 100,000ft². The Athens location, formerly known as Turner Medical, integrated the Intech group in 2015, and the facility primarily uses CNC machining to manufacture its medical devices. While the technology is known for its ability to achieve tight tolerances, it still requires some creative thinking when it comes to medical devices, which are often made of materials that aren’t ideally suited to machining. Lightweight, thin materials such as plastics and aluminum are frequently used for surgical instruments, but they’re easily crushed or bowed, so delicacy is required in workholding.

“The material has to be compatible for a surgical environment and those materials have a tendency to not be very stable when you machine them, they’ll move and bow and flex,” says Joseph Forsyth, director of advanced manufacturing at Intech Athens. “So, you’ve got to get the bow and the flex out in some way or another. And these instruments must be correct in a free state. But when you clamp on something in traditional workholding, you’re not in that free state – you’ve introduced force into that part, and you’ve changed its structure in a sense.”

To circumvent these issues, manufacturers have experimented with different adhesives on workholding devices, according to Forsyth.

“We’ve used all types of machines that have run into these types of parts, and tried these kinds of things, but nothing’s ever really simple,” he says.

Shining a light on the problem

A solution to these issues arose in the mind of an engineering professor at Pennsylvania State University in the early 2000s. Edward De Meter’s research led him to develop photo-activated adhesive workholding (PAAW), which involves applying a small amount of adhesive to a gripper system then curing it with ultraviolet (UV) light. This allows for a secure hold without clamping on to the workpiece. Because very little force is applied, deformation can be eliminated or significantly reduced for even the most delicate materials.

Penn State patented the technology and De Meter continued to tweak it and work toward commercialization. The turning point came in 2013, when De Meter, along with GE Aviation designer Dan Billings, who learned of PAAW and saw great potential, formed Blue Photon Technology and Workholding Systems. The Shelby, Michigan company has continued to develop the technology into a solution that was first embraced by the aerospace industry, which also regularly deals with delicate, complex components. It has since expanded into other industries, including medical, and Forsyth discovered it through a happy accident.

Roughly seven years ago, Kenneth Jones from Jones Marketing & JMI CNC Tooling & Automation stopped by Intech and brought in a case to discuss a product with Forsyth – it was Blue Photon’s fixturing system. Forsyth tried the technology and was deeply impressed by its strength and ability to hold awkward, difficult-to-grip objects. Fast forward to today, when Intech has invested a large amount of money into the purchase of Blue Photon’s workholding solution.

“It pays back, because a traditional fixture design would take hours and days to conceptualize and build,” Forsyth says. “And it’s very high complexity, and it’s going to take a very skilled individual to know how to load the part into this complex fixture and maintain it at all times.”

Blue Photon’s fixtures, on the other hand, are surprisingly simple, with three points of contact and the easily applied adhesive. The company also offers cleaning solutions and tools that thoroughly remove any traces of cured adhesive from the workpiece. Intech hires a lot of young workers who may have to work harder to adapt to the manufacturing industry due to its rapid changes and increasing complexity (high mix, low volume), but Blue Photon’s technology, according to Forsyth, provides a great opportunity for them to learn about manufacturing complicated parts – without a difficult learning curve.

Simplifying design and manufacturing

Intech advertises what it calls a 360° approach toward providing surgical devices, meaning it handles the entire workflow from concept to production while maintaining fast delivery times along with safety, quality, and regulatory compliance. Communication and teamwork are key to upholding this, Forsyth says, as is a strong understanding of time management. Working with Blue Photon meets all those needs – the company offers strong partnership and communication while providing a way for Intech to streamline its manufacturing processes.

“We’ve improved our processes by simplifying,” Forsyth says. “We’re removing operations – where traditionally I might have to grind a part and add multiple steps, I can now do everything in one shot on a simpler fixture, so I’m able to remove processing steps and increase our profits by removing inputs. It’s helped us tremendously.”

Since Intech acquired Turner Medical in 2015, that branch of the company has more than doubled in size, according to Forsyth. It’s likely to continue expanding, as the orthopedic device industry is projected to grow from $62 billion in 2024 to $94 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. This is due to several factors, including an aging population, increases in disease and injury, and technological advancements enabling more minimally invasive surgeries and less expensive, often more customized devices.

While these kinds of technological advancements can mean increases in complexity, they can also result in the opposite. Blue Photon’s technology, while thoroughly researched and fine-tuned, is deceptively simple and enables manufacturers to keep pace with a fast-moving industry without getting bogged down by having to learn a complicated new system. The use of UV light to cure materials is widespread in multiple industries, but its application in workholding is a new way to solve an old problem that has long frustrated manufacturers.

Blue Photon Technology and Workholding Systems
https://www.bluephotongrip.com

Intech Medical
https://intech-medical.com

About the author: Clare Scott is associate editor for Today’s Medical Developments magazine. She can be reached at CScott@gie.net or 216.393.0314.