Plan to attend The IMTS 2018 Conferences to expand your industry knowledge as you learn from the pros.

There is a preconceived notion within the manufacturing industry that powder reuse and recycling for direct metal laser melting (DMLM) negatively impacts material properties and leads to inferior parts. Engineers, skeptical about material recycling, often specify a maximum powder age and require additive manufacturing (AM) providers to discard all old powder. In reality, reusing and recycling powder with the proper controls not only has no effect on mechanical properties, it enables DMLM to be a more efficient and economical AM process.

Registration opens soon, so check out the IMTS 2018 website for more information.

Meet your presenter
Andrew Carter is a process and manufacturing engineer at Stratasys Direct Manufacturing with more than 5 years of experience in additive manufacturing. He has extensively studied direct metal laser melting (DMLM) technology and has received three Small Business Innovation Research grants aimed at developing novel applications and materials specifically for DMLM, including studying powder degradation. Carter also received a 30 Under 30 award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 2017.

Heule Tool Corp. (HTC), in Loveland, Ohio, recently celebrated its 30th anniversary serving manufacturers in North America. HTC was established in N. America in 1988 by Heule Werkzeug AG in Balgach, Switzerland, and was located in West Plymouth, Michigan. Moving to the Cincinnati area in 1993, HTC has continued to increase sales of its automated deburring, chamfering, countersinking, and spot-facing tools in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and is now widely used by leading high-volume manufacturers for their Swiss-made precision cutting tools.

“Our customers in North America appreciate the high-quality product that the Swiss make,” says HTC President Gary Brown, speaking at the 30th Anniversary Open House.

Brown, who has been leading HTC for 29 of the 30 years, thanked Heule Werkzeug AG CEO Ulf Heule, who was present at the event. He also recognized Ulf’s father, Heinrich, who invented the first automated deburring tool in 1961 and launched the company.

“We couldn’t be here without you,” Brown said.

Ulf Heule also spoke at the event, thanking HTC employees for their hard work in making Heule successful in North America. “Today HTC is an important part of the Heule group,” said Heule, who also supports subsidiaries in Germany, China, and South Korea.

HTC celebrated their anniversary on April 25, 2018 by inviting local sales agents, distributors, customers, government officials, business partners, friends, and family to an open house and pig roast where they toasted HTC’s success. Ulf Heule and Brown also planted a tree on the grounds of HTC to commemorate 30 years of growth in North America.

Frisco, Texas & Tempe, Arizona – Integer Holdings Corp. has entered into an agreement to sell its advanced surgical and orthopedics (AS&O) product lines to MedPlast LLC for $600 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including U.S. and foreign antitrust clearances.

“Integer is a global leader in medical device outsourcing, with an unmatched breadth of design, development and manufacturing capabilities,” says Joe Dziedzic, Integer’s president and CEO. “After this divestiture and paying down debt with the proceeds, we expect to be a $1.2 billion company with higher margins, increased net earnings, greater returns on invested capital, and significantly lower debt leverage. This increased financial flexibility will enable us to grow our leadership position in our cardio & vascular and cardiac & neuromodulation product lines as we partner with customers to deliver life-changing innovation.”

Integer’s AS&O capabilities will bolster MedPlast’s portfolio of manufacturing solutions and transform MedPlast into one of the world’s leading outsourced contract manufacturers of medical devices. In addition to expanding MedPlast’s offering into a broad range of metals manufacturing capabilities, including machining, stamping, coating, and metal forming, it will further strengthen MedPlast’s front-end design, development and prototyping services. Once complete, the acquisition will double MedPlast’s size to nearly $1 billion in sales, as well as its global footprint, with an expanded presence in Europe. MedPlast will employ nearly 6,000 engineers, technicians and assembly workers at manufacturing facilities across Asia, Central America, Europe and the United States.

“MedPlast is incredibly excited about the addition of Integer’s AS&O capabilities to our existing platform,” notes MedPlast CEO Brian King. “This acquisition will further broaden our offerings and strengthen our ability to provide our customers with innovative solutions to meet their challenging needs. It also will provide additional scale and new growth opportunities for MedPlast. We are excited to be working with the AS&O team and look forward to collectively growing our company and continuing to deliver outstanding service to our customers.”

MedPlast’s agreement to acquire Integer’s AS&O business is the third acquisition MedPlast has facilitated in the past year. In 2017, MedPlast acquired Vention Medical’s Device Manufacturing Services business and Coastal Life Technologies to extend its portfolio of services into assembly and packaging. The strategic acquisitions follow MedPlast’s partnership in 2016 with Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners, two strategic investment firms specializing in the health care industry.

The transaction does not include Integer’s Portable Medical product line, which will remain a part of Integer.

Plan to attend The IMTS 2018 Conferences to expand your industry knowledge as you learn from the pros.

This presentation will cover how active laser guarding developments have become ever more necessary in the role of laser safety and the prevention of injury due to high power laser radiation.

The safety of personnel in close proximity to high powered lasers is paramount. This paper looks into how engineered safety solutions are implemented and how to determine the most cost-effective option – passive or active laser guarding. The avoidance of burn injuries, potential blindness, or even death is addressed in regard to laser safety. The latest developments in active laser guarding are examined which conform to the international and U.S. laser safety standards.

As more laser processes are using ever more powerful lasers in manufacturing, the requirement threshold is more often crossed from passive to active laser safety systems and this trend looks to be set to continue. Consequently, more has to be done to safeguard personnel and all those working with lasers should be aware of the potential dangers which are not always obvious – especially when dealing with wavelengths outside the visible spectrum.

Registration opens soon, so check out the IMTS 2018 website for more information.

The presenter will cover when and why to use active laser guarding and examines the limits of passive guarding depending on the laser power density. (An active laser guarding system will switch off the laser virtually immediately whenever a stray laser beam is detected striking a laser safety enclosure).  The paper describes how to calculate laser safe limits so that laser safety officers know the appropriate system to use and describes current systems on the market and how they work.

The legal implications and consequences of not adhering to the relevant laser safety standards can lead to serious situations especially if people are blinded, otherwise burned, or injured by high powered lasers.

Engineered, professionally designed, proven, and certified laser safety control systems must be used to ensure all practical steps have been taken to prevent the escape of laser radiation that can cause harm to personnel, equipment, and infrastructure outside of the designated laser safety area.

Awareness of the laser safety protective measures that must be implemented is before the installation and commissioning of the laser. Prompt training of laser hazards is vital and all establishments using a laser must have a laser safety officer who must be laser safety trained.

Meet the presenter
Paul Tozer has been managing director of Lasermet since 2006, having previously worked at Lasermet as sales director. He has worked in the field of laser safety since 1994 and has extensive experience in providing laser safety consultancy and advice to the industrial, research, medical, and cosmetic fields. In particular he has detailed knowledge of MPE & AEL calculations, EN 207 & eyewear specifications and the design of interlocking systems to meet SIL levels as defined by EN 61508. Qualifying from Bristol University with a BSc (Hons) in Physics, Tozer is a Laser Protection Adviser accredited by the Association of Laser Safety Professionals.