Global forecasts show strength and continued growth in 2020 with compound annual growth rates (CAGR) ranging from 5.5% to 17.7%. Here’s what you can expect for the various areas.
*Various reports contained different starting and ending years. TMD editors applied projected growth rates to calculate 2019 and 2024 sales numbers for these reports.
Starrett Metrology Systems appoints vice president
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Hurco names BMO Automation preferred partner; API adds CMM services, launches certified pre-owned laser tracker business
David Allen has been appointed vice president, Starrett Metrology Systems. In this newly-created role, Allen will be responsible for the strategy, growth, and profitability of Starrett Bytewise, Starrett Tru-Stone Technologies, Starrett-Kinemetric Systems, metrology software development, force measurement systems, and Starrett Special Gage Department.
Starrett’s President and CEO Douglas A. Starrett says, “David has deep experience with products and channels similar to Starrett, a global perspective, and a growth mindset that will help these businesses grow faster and more profitably."
Hurco names BMO Automation preferred partner
Netherlands-based BMO Automation will provide Hurco customers with a tested automation solution that requires minimal integration and ensures the BMO Automation packages will immediately increase productivity without disruption. Focused on high-mix/high volume production, BMO helps manufacturers handle the skills gap and labor shortage, increasing productivity of CNC machines.
“This preferred partnership with BMO is another way we can help our customers identify meaningful technologies and automation packages to solve the problems they face on a daily basis,” says Paul Gray, Hurco vice president R&D and Product Development.
“BMO Automation engineers collaborated extensively with the Hurco engineering team to ensure customers experience a seamless integration with the interactive operation of the robot and CNC machine,” says Frank Biemans, managing director of BMO Automation.
API adds CMM services, launches certified pre-owned laser tracker business
API Services’ coordinate measuring machine (CMM) certification and recalibration services, available in standard or premium, restore CMMs to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specifications. Premium calibration includes a 21 parameter error-map created using the API XD laser interferometer and six degrees of freedom (6DoF) calibration.
Software calibrates CMMs by importing, reading, and modifying original CMM error maps, regardless of whether the map is located in the CMM controller or in metrology software. Calibration technicians use XD 6DoF laser interferometers to measure 21 errors of the CMM in a single setup.
API’s certified pre-owned laser tracker business provides first-time tracker users with the benefits of laser tracker measurements at a significant discount or for additional tracker capacity to be added by experienced laser tracker users.
All API recertified laser trackers are thoroughly inspected and recertified to B89.4.19 standard at the API Services ISO 17015 certified facility, and come standard with a 12 month, full parts and labor warranty.
Welcome to the ’20s, a decade in which medical technology will grow more than 5% annually. Global forecasts also indicate the manufacturing technologies used to produce medtech will grow anywhere from 5.5% to 17.7%, (see Infographic). What’s interesting as I look at the youngest entrant to manufacturing, Industry 4.0, is the growth rate. Value sits at $71.7 billion with growth to $156.6 billion by 2024. But, that’s only if manufacturers (management) are willing to embrace it, which can be daunting. Reluctancy toward these latest technologies isn’t new.
I recently read through decades of editorials and columns that my late father-in-law, Stan Modic, wrote throughout his career covering manufacturing. I met Stan – the Lou Grant of B2B publishing – when he hired me as an intern in 1994. He could be gruff but fair; he spoke his mind but was willing to listen; and he knew U.S. manufacturing needed to embrace technology to remain competitive.
One column, from 35 years ago, caught my attention: Management, not technology, is the problem. His warning, “The U.S. is in danger of losing its technological edge,” has been parroted so often that people consider it a truism. However, the real problem is not the lack of, rather the overabundance of, technology.
He was covering a study funded to determine how effectively new technologies were being employed to improve quality and boost productivity. Researchers concluded that, “management is confused by and generally not knowledgeable about advanced manufacturing technologies, their advantages and capabilities” and “even though experts agree that employing new technology can boost productivity by up to 60%, in a majority of cases U.S. manufacturers have ignored the argument that new technologies produce higher quality products faster and cheaper.”
Stan’s take: “Management nonchalance regarding the utilization of new technologies is difficult to understand. Although the study couldn’t document any correlation between the use of technology and profitability, it did find that…companies which reported higher sales and lower manufacturing costs over the last five years were using much higher levels of technology than the average.”
Stan referred to that editorial numerous times throughout his career because the issue wasn’t changing. By 1990, a study showed industry grading themselves with C- or D regarding their own experience with advanced manufacturing technologies.
I’m not sure the grades would improve much today. A report from Greenlight Guru found a stunning 81% of medical device companies are not using tools designed for the industry in their quality management process. Further results note that 71% reported data collected by their company’s quality system is not easily accessible in real-time.
Industry 4.0 is one of those newer entrants to manufacturing. Those who have embraced it are able to document positive result on business. Those who don’t will be the adoption laggards Stan talked about 35+ years ago.
Many traditional medical device materials form malleable chips during machining that can clog cutting-tool flutes, increase heat, and reduce tool life – all things that increase costs and/or reduce product quality.
“This technological breakthrough eliminates long stringy chips in malleable materials such as copper, plastics, titanium, and surgical stainless,” Walker says. “The interruption in the cut breaks material into small, manageable chips.”
The method oscillates a specified axis, synchronizing the rotation to the main spindle. Perfect synchronization between the oscillation and spindle rotation breaks up the stringy chips without affecting part roundness.
“The oscillation depth and number of oscillations per revolution can be programmed on the fly by the operator or programmer to allow for maximum control based on materials, speeds, and feeds,” Walker says. “This is particularly great for things such as bone taps, where you could get a long, stringy chip on a piece of stock and this allows a nice manageable chip to be broken up so there’s very little if no operator intervention.”
Oscillation Cutting can be used for turning, drilling, boring, grooving, or cutoff operations. In addition, Walker adds, a low-frequency vibration in the Z- or X-axis also breaks up chips and eliminates some need for high-pressure coolant.
Laser Swiss machining
While Oscillation Cutting targets chip reduction, Tsugami/Rem Sales engineers continue to develop Swiss-type machines with integrated lasers for the medical market. Since its 2012 introduction, the Tsugami LaserSwiss line has grown popular with medical device and orthopedic companies.
“Speed, accuracy, and the ability to machine smaller and more intricate features on medical devices allow designers to transition prototypes into functional products,” Walker explains. “The most important factor is the way it provides new product development engineers the possibility to combine many operations into one which yields high quality at the lowest total cost.”
Incorporating lasers with Swiss machining allows manufacturers to combine operations on a single machine or eliminate some process steps. Parts traditionally cut by wire electrical discharge machining (EDM), followed by mill or lathe machining, can be machined in a single setup on a LaserSwiss machine, he adds.
“Combining the precision of a laser beam with a Swiss machine provides an extremely efficient means to produce complex parts in one setup,” Walker says.
High QA software automatically recognizes critical geometric dimension and tolerancing (GD&T) specifications from 2D prints, eliminating manual entry and reducing opportunity for error.
PHOTO courtesy of High QA
Details of any medical device’s manufacturing processes must be completely traceable so manufacturers can monitor product quality, make timely updates, and quickly recall defective items. Traceability extends from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to suppliers of individual components.
Should defects occur, cradle-to-grave tracking makes it possible to pinpoint exactly where changes in product quality initiated.
Medical device manufacturers face U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections and regulatory mandates as well as ISO requirements and risk management pressures. Quality shortcomings in an artificial joint or pacemaker can have lifelong or life-ending consequences, so tracing an error or omission to a single process is critical. Recently, some medical implant recalls have been tracked to failures of individual electronic components or to process errors such as inadequate part cleaning.
Software from High QA automatically extracts manufacturing and inspection requirements from a 2D drawing or PDF file, creating a ballooned inspection drawing and complete bill of dimensional characteristics stored in a single database.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGH QA
PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGH QA
The right data
Manufacturers can collect information almost instantly at multiple steps in a process, however such advances can generate massive amounts of data, and knowing exactly which are useful is a challenge. For OEMs, the key is determining which data are critical, translating them into useful information, and sharing appropriate information with suppliers.
Traditionally, supplier manufacturing engineers and quality assurance personnel decided which dimensions to inspect, how frequently to make inspections, and how to tabulate results. However, suppliers’ decisions don’t always match customer priorities.
An OEM can avoid data collection and reporting inconsistencies by presenting suppliers with a consistent set of standards, requiring the same information for inspection and reporting. Information should include drawings with part dimensions and establish a standard identification system for inspecting the characteristics of a part and recording the results. Manufacturers can achieve standardized identification of part requirements by annotating drawings with numbered callouts or balloons that point out individual part features. Balloon numbers correspond with numbers on a dimensional data form that lists dimensions, tolerances, and other requirements. Every supplier producing a certain part can use the same drawing balloon information to make the part, inspect it, and report results. Multiple suppliers can make the same part, delivering manufacturing and inspection data to the OEM in an identical format.
High QA’s inspection technology enables users to develop, control, and deploy inspection plans, related documents, requirements, and measurement instructions throughout an organization, providing an infrastructure to standardize and structure inspection data across an entire supply chain.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGH QA
Quality information
Automatically extracting geometric dimension and tolerancing (GD&T) information from the source part drawing eliminates interpretation and laborious manual tasks. Scanning the 2D drawing or PDF once for each part, via automatic ballooning and other quality requirements, assures dimensions are defined and numbered the same way on all suppliers’ drawings. A single source for dimensional information makes inspection results easily identifiable and able to be compiled for trend analysis showing dimensions in relation to specifications.
The OEM’s inspection plan can include instructions about inspection frequency – pointing out which part dimensions require 100% inspection and those that need less frequent inspection. Inspection information includes standardized serial numbers that are stored and recalled from a central database and can be searched and recovered quickly. Standardizing part feature identification and inspection plans can also help generate easily comparable supplier quotes.
Quality information management software gets all medical device manufacturing process contributors on the same page for part dimensions, tolerances, and data reporting – maximizing process efficiency. An automated, integrated approach to data management practically eliminates data-based errors and provides consistent product quality that protects the ultimate customer: the patient for whom the medical device can be a life-preserving resource.
Elizabeth Engler Modic
