Himed’s MCD Apatitic Abrasive Blasting Capacity Is Growing
Himed staff conducting validation tests on the new iFAB production cell, which has been specifically designed for the post-processing of medical implantable devices using Himed’s proprietary resorbable MCD apatitic abrasive blasting media.
Here at Himed, we just added a new member to our team of robots. We call it iFAB (short for “fully automated blaster”). It’s a highly-dexterous, automated industrial robot with six-axes of motion, that is contained within a new production cell. The iFab has been specifically designed to deliver our biocompatible MATRIX MCD® treatment to medical devices, dental implants, and orthopedic implants.
The automated cell has a significantly larger chamber than we’ve created in the past, a more agile articulated arm, and is a key addition to our capabilities. It means we’ve not only upped our capacity for post-processing medical devices and implants for our customers, it also means we can more quickly handle surface optimization for larger orthopedic devices.
Meeting the needs of medical device designers — through rigorous validation
With our growing customer base, plus the expanding market for implants in general (and 3D-printed implants in particular), our team needed a way to handle the finishing processes for a wider variety of implantable medical devices. But we couldn’t just pick a robot out of a catalog and plug it in.
First, our engineers selected an ABB industrial robot that could be customized to become our newest blaster. After designing, fabricating, and implementing the necessary modifications, our work was only half done…next came validation.
For over thirty years, our validation process has been a critical step in everything we do. We take it seriously and are proud of the fact that we are FDA registered and ISO 13485:2016 certified for the "design of surface texturing/coating for dental and orthopedic implants and biomaterials manufacturing, including special processes." Each time a new customer approaches us with a customized request, we have a rigorous validation process to ensure every specification can be met.
To confirm the new automated cell was up to our standards, we began the process of testing the machine on a variety of parts representative of implant designs that commonly receive our MATRIX MCD® and MATRIX Dual® apatitic abrasive blasting processes. Everything from surface screw threads to the inner chambers of porous 3d-printed matrices were blasted with our soluble MCD using a variety of parameters. We verified the results, then did it all over again. Through a months-long process of blasting, analyzing, and recalibrating we’ve finally ensured iFAB’s results are consistent and reproducible. As of December, iFAB is online and ready to fulfill customer requests.
More complex implant designs at larger scales
Modern implants — especially those created via additive manufacturing — are far more nuanced than they used to be. The specialization and complexity of the devices have changed everything from device size to lot size. With iFAB, our entire apatitic abrasive blasting system is now more flexible. A more agile applicator arm means we can tailor our surface finishing process to the minute differences of the part.
The larger blast chamber and chamber door mean we can handle larger orthopedic parts, such as spinal implants, hip components, and more. With most orthopedic devices averaging many times the dimensional parameters of a dental implant, this additional space within the blasting cell is critical to allowing the ABB robot the necessary range of motion.
And on a very practical level, more space enables the consistent processing of larger quantities of devices without sacrificing quality. When a company is cleared to take a product to market we can rapidly scale up production to meet that additional demand while retaining all the customized input parameters specific to their design.
Keeping lead times short without sacrificing quality
What does our new robot mean for our customers? Not only have we increased our ability to handle larger, more complex, and more customized implant surface finishing, we’re improving on our lead times. We know that over the past few years supply chains and lead times have increased dramatically across the board. But even before the pandemic hit, Himed has always tried to maintain a futuristic viewpoint, upgrading and optimizing in anticipation of our customers’ and the market’s future needs. That viewpoint helped us come out the other end of lockdowns with an expanded customer base and minimal additional lead times.
Our iFAB is one more way we’re keeping up with growth — while maintaining our uncompromising commitment to quality. If you’d like to hear more about the advanced capabilities of iFAB, we invite you to schedule a call with one of our engineers.