Oct 3, 2017 | By Tess
GE Healthcare, a subsidiary of General Electric, has officially opened its first healthcare-oriented European 3D printing facility. Called the Innovative Design and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center for Europe, the facility is located in Uppsala, Sweden, and will be the site of various medical 3D printing research initiatives.
Uppsala, Sweden
Over recent years, American multinational General Electric has become a key player in the development of additive manufacturing technologies across a range of industries.
The company has invested a lot into 3D printing technologies, and has already turned over some pretty impressive developments: a 1,300-horsepower 3D printed ATP aircraft engine, the large-format ATLAS SLS 3D printer, software to transform CT scans into 3D printable models in the “click of a button,” and more.
With its new Sweden-based medical 3D printing facility, GE Healthcare is increasing its stake and scope in the additive healthcare market.
The new Innovative Design and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center is equipped with various manufacturing technologies, including both metal and polymer 3D printers, as well as collaborative robotic systems, known as “cobots,” and other more traditional manufacturing machines.
Notably, the new medical tech center will be focused not only on leveraging additive manufacturing for existing medical devices, but on fully redesigning medical products to reap the advantages of AM.
The center’s Research and Design and engineering teams will therefore work with clients from the conception stage all the way to the manufacturing of products, seeking to optimize the design, form, and function of 3D printed medical devices.
“We are exploring opportunities where additive can bring cost savings and technical improvements to our supply chain and products,” commented Andreas Marcstrom, Manager of Additive Engineering at the new facility. “Simply printing a part doesn’t really deliver that much improvement to a product or process. You have to re-think the entire design. To do this, you need your R&D teams and your additive manufacturing engineers working from the start of the development process—our center in Uppsala ensure that critical step."
One of the main benefits that 3D printing can offer the medical manufacturing sector is the ability to produce single-piece parts, rather than products that must be assembled from a number of separate parts. That is, by redesigning a product as a whole, single piece, manufacturers can cut back on manufacturing costs, materials, and even production time.
Unsurprisingly, the Uppsala facility will be using an M2 Cusing metal 3D printer. The machine, which has a build volume of 250 x 250 x 280 mm, was developed by German company Concept Laser, which was last year acquired by GE. The cobots in use at the facility were created by GE Healthcare’s Advanced Manufacturing Engineering team and have been dispatched to its various manufacturing centers.
Currently, GE Healthcare says it is working with biotech experts at Amgen to develop and test a 3D printed chromatography column, a device used in the development of biopharmaceuticals. The custom-designed column could be used for the development of “improved processes for the purification stage of biopharmaceutical production.”
Having recently launched, the new European Innovative Design and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center will begin by working closely with GE Healthcare’s facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Teams from both centers will share their research and collaborate on certain projects.
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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