Maximizing Employee Potential to Create a Lean, Quality-Focused Culture
A key concept of Lean manufacturing philosophy is differentiating between value-added and non value-added activity. Within that category is the concept of necessary non value-added activity or activities that are necessary, but don’t add value to the products being built. Supervision is considered a neces

Creating a Culture Focused on Cost Reduction: Burton Industries’ Approach
There is no question that supply chain costs are increasing across the board in 2021. That said, electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers who focus on working smarter can help balance out those increases. The team at Burton Industries has always had a culture focused on finding ways to reduce co

3D Printing & Injection Molding: Same Team, Different Roles
These complementary processes can be adapted to serve countless prototyping and full-production demands, boosting medtechs’ bottom lines and speeding time to market.

3D Printing & Injection Molding: A Cost Comparison Analysis
When determining which technique to use at different points in the product development process, a cost comparison analysis can be helpful to provide a sense of when to start thinking about 3D Printing or Injection Molding for your prototypes or production run.

Case Study - New Material Formulation for Point-of-Care Diagnostics
Rapid response to urgent COVID-19 patient needs with a seal that meets strict chemical and mechanical requirements.

Medical Device Security: Achieving Regulatory Approval
Regulators around the world are taking a larger and larger role in requiring and verifying that devices are as secure as possible both before and after release. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published guidance that outlines requirements for medical devices that mandate a num

Does Your Contract Manufacturer Have a Quality Improvement Focus?
Every company in the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry talks about quality. But a point of differentiation among EMS providers is often the internal resources in place to ensure that quality issues are identified and addressed. SigmaTron International, an EMS provider with a global network

Mitigating Design Risks - Considerations for Medical Device Development and Manufacture
Medical original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are at the forefront of the global effort to empower consumers and their physicians to be more proactive in diagnosing the risk or onset of chronic disease to improve treatment outcomes and lower costs. This effort represents nothing less than the transformation

HENIAPORE™-K VPS-TITANIUM COATING ON PEEK SUBSTRATE FOR MEDICAL DEVICES
Porous titanium coatings onto polymers are of great interest to medical industries. A vacuum plasma spray (VPS) process has been developed to coat PEEK with a micro porous biomimetic titanium coating. This study reports the experimental characterization of the topography and microstructure and of the mechanic

Coating Technologies Review: How Orthopedic Implants Get Coated
Orchid Orthopedic Solutions focuses on both bone on-growth coatings and bone in-growth coatings with expertise in sintered coatings, spherical, asymmetric and porous foam used in on-growth coatings. In-growth coatings are usually done with plasma spray, using titanium hydroxyapatite, or titanium on PEEK (poly

Case Study - Medical Device Sealing Solutions
What Designers and Manufacturers Need To Know, Avoid And Consider When Planning Seals In A Device

The Complete Guide to Plastic Injection Molding
Plastic injection molding is a manufacturing process to produce plastic components or devices ranging from hundreds to millions of parts at a time.  The guide provides information, resources, and tools to understand the elements of injection molding so you can move from the design phase to a full pro

The Goldilocks Problem - Cell Selection for Emerging Applications
When designing a battery pack for a new device, a common question that engineers may find themselves asking is "Which is the best cell to use for my application?" When choosing the cell for a battery, an engineer must decide what variables are most important to the final application of the battery and mu

Rapid Product Development: Four Areas to Audit When Selecting a Contract Manufacturer
The battle against COVID-19 has created a niche need for companies able to support product development cycles that cut months off traditional product development timelines. Achieving that speed should not translate to abandoning the quality control checks and balances necessary to meet regulatory requirem

Driving Market Advantage: Six Critical Contract Manufacturer Skillsets
Optimizing the outsourcing equation involves far more than simply finding a company to manufacture products in an area with low cost wages. A skilled contract manufacturer is expert at product commercialization: eliminating cost and inefficiency throughout design and development phase, offering innovative

Speed and Scalability: The Advantages of Outsourcing to a Vertically Integrated Contract Manufacturer
If there is one thing that is predictable in today’s medical device market, it is lack of predictability. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed demand for established products, created demand for new products and driven the need for re-evaluating optimum sourcing strategies. One thing that hasn’t changed are th

Navigating Materials Constraints: Burton Industries’ Formula for Minimizing Supply Chain-Related Disruptions
What is significant about the 2021 is the number of constraint drivers likely to be present during the year. Pent-up consumer demand is driving spikes in products across multiple sectors that were in short supply in 2020 due to the pandemic. The automotive sector is seeing both pent-up demand across all mo

Automation: The Future of Medical Device Manufacturing
In a perfect world, medical devices would be manufactured in a process with zero errors. Today, customers’ expectations for zero defects are higher than they have ever been and medical device manufacturers are looking for error-reducing solutions. Automation offers great promise. While automation is frequentl

Keys to Successful Design for Manufacturability
A product’s manufacturability is influenced by the materials used, requested tolerances, part geometry, process control limitations, and more. A successful DFM process considers each of these factors from the start.

Clearing the Hurdles of Medical Device Prototyping
Medical device engineers are tasked with finding straightforward solutions for complex problems that can bring medical devices to market and enrich patients’ lives. However, material costs, functionality, and turnaround times can present mid-design and prototyping impediments to final components and products.

The Criticality of Process Validation
Process validation is a critical part of medical device manufacturing, but it often doesn’t get the attention it requires. This article explains why validation is imperative in medical device manufacturing, illuminates some regulatory changes currently underway, outlines the steps of creating validation proce

Case Study: Tekni-Plex Flow Wrap Structure Eliminates $250K in Manufacturing Costs
Problematic film was leaving residue on cutting blades causing significant financial impact to the operation

Case Study: Tekni-Plex Helps Companies Commercialize Swab Sticks for COVID-19 Testing Needs
Quick turnaround for form-fill-seal material, coupled with technical support from Tekni-Plex enabled first-time swab stick manufacturers to quickly ramp up production

Keeping Deliveries On Time: Burton Industries’ Multi-Faceted Approach
Supply chain disruption has become far too a common event in the electronics industry. Unanticipated spikes in high volume industry demand, merger & acquisition activity among component suppliers, COVID-19 shutdowns and logistics challenges have all created material constraints at one time or another. Eve

Cutting Time in Product Development: Four Areas Where Your Contract Manufacturer Can Help
Nowhere is the phrase “time is money” more accurate than in product development. A slow product development cycle can increase engineering costs, material costs and marketing costs. When design and manufacturing are outsourced, some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) see design and manufacturing as disti

Precision Ball Screws for Efficient Linear Motion
For a vast array of industrial applications including milling-machine tables, robotics, medical equipment and semiconductor manufacture, ball screws deliver extremely accurate and durable linear motion solutions. They provide very high rigidity, smooth and near-silent operation, accuracy grades from C0 to C7,

Maximizing Machine Efficiency with Linear Guides
For designers and engineers of industrial machines that employ linear motion functions, achieving high load capacities, high speed positioning accuracy, and a compact form factor is the holy grail. NH/NS-series linear guides from NSK achieve these outcomes while substantially extending service intervals, espe

Compact, Accurate Motion For Medical Equipment
Nowhere is the need for smooth, precise, repeatable and reliable linear motion more critical than with medical devices and equipment. With friction-free motion, high-accuracy positioning and high operating efficiencies, the NSK Motorized Ball Screw Actuator offers considerable advantages versus conventional s

Second Evaluation of the Wear Duration of Acrylic Wearable Device Adhesives on Healthy Human Volunteers

Catalog: Adhesives for the Medical Industry
For an overview of Master Bond’s most popular medical grade epoxies, please browse this easy to read catalog organized by chemistry, key properties and curing schedules. From the prototype stage through the manufacturing process, each compound in this 20 page catalog is designed to meet specific applicatio