NN, Inc. Precision Engineered Products Group (PEP), a global manufacturer of highly engineered precision customized solutions serving the medical market, today announced that both its EOS M280 and EOS 290 additive manufacturing machines have successfully completed validation based on installation qualification (IQ), operational qualification (OQ), and performance qualification (PQ) standards. The company performs industry-leading additive manufacturing (ASTM F2792), including 3D modelling for medical devices and direct metal laser sintering and has a unique Sawbones Lab to expedite prototyping. Its machines are dedicated material machines and were thoroughly tested to ensure consistent dimensional accuracy, tensile strength, porosity, density during the additive manufacturing process.
Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies can reduce costs and lead-times while enhancing product performance. Orthopedic manufacturers have been among the early implementers, and with NN Inc. PEP’s unique additive manufacturing services, orthopedic design engineers and others across the medical device industry can now take advantage of PEP’s advanced resources including the Sawbones Lab and Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) capabilities.
Clients on a global scale recognize the quality of NN Inc. PEP’s manufacturing capabilities, resulting in a rapidly growing customer base. To meet the customer demand for its additive manufacturing services, the company has appointed Dan Anderson as Director of Emerging Technologies to help lead the initiative. Anderson has nearly 30 years of experience in the medical device industry and previously holding positions as director of product development and senior manager of prototyping & design at Greatbatch Medical. Prior to that, he was the director of global sterilization case development at Zimmer Holdings and spent 20 years at DePuy Orthopaedics where he held various roles including director of custom implants/instruments and director of development services.
Direct Metal Laser Sintering can accurately produce parts directly from the computer-aided design (CAD) models to eliminate the cost and lead times – often several weeks – for tooling while making it possible to produce complex geometries that would be difficult or impossible to produce even with the most sophisticated computer numerical control (CNC) equipment. The ability to create advanced structures and new surface topologies with DMLS also has the potential to significantly improve product performance in unique ways. For example, it has been demonstrated that some lattice structures produced via additive manufacturing can enhance bone growth.
Once a design engineer has produced an orthopedic appliance in PEP’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, they can immediately transition into functional testing at the adjacent Sawbones Lab and designers and manufacturing process developers can observe outcomes together for optimal results.
NN, Inc. Precision Engineered Products Group
pep-corp.com
