Our team at MediSurge understands the importance of collaboration when it comes to advancing the industry and discovering new breakthroughs, and, because of this, we proudly work alongside community partners on a variety of projects, including our current 3D additive manufacturing exploration.
After receiving a half-million-dollar grant from the Grand Rapids SmartZone, our team is currently in the midst of a two-and-a-half-year collaborative research program with Grand Valley State University and the applied Medical Device Institute. The program is directly addressing the cost and time barriers for medical device innovations entering the market.
Working alongside partners, we are implementing groundbreaking 3D printing technology from Carbon, Inc. to create production grade parts using medical grade materials and tolerances to accelerate both the device development and the component manufacturing cycle.
Hands-on Learning
The Carbon 3D printer has been installed in aMDI’s world-class lab in Grand Valley’s Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, and more than a dozen graduate and undergraduate students from Grand Valley’s Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering and Computing are working alongside our team on this project.
This work provides an opportunity for students to have access to a real-world experiential learning environment and to train on, and gain an understanding of, technologies that will soon be the new industry standard.
Shaping the Industry
The costs and time to market for polymer-based medical devices are growing rapidly with increased regulations, steel tooling, and design validation requirements. The goal of this program is to find the tipping point, in complexity and number of parts, where 3D printing technology will be the method of choice to significantly reduce startup costs and time to market, a benefit for companies of all sizes.
Upon completion of the study, and determining scalability for 3D printing of medical devices at production volumes, MediSurge would be one of the first medical device manufacturing company in the Midwest to offer this type of service, and that is something that truly excites us.
Investing in West Michigan
The City of Grand Rapids was extremely supportive of this project, as they see that investing in research that will address barriers associated with time to market is crucial for continuing the City’s talent development, attraction and retention efforts. This project, which fosters engagement between higher education, research institutes, and industry leaders, like MediSurge, is key for Grand Rapids’, and West Michigan’s, continued economic success.
We are excited to continue work on this project and are grateful to be part of something that is a true collaborative effort between several partners here in West Michigan. The outcomes of this research could no doubt have an impact on the future of the industry.
To learn more about this project, or our upcoming 3D printing capabilities, reach out to our team today.
