Irish contract manufacturer Croom Medical specializes in orthopedic implants manufacturing and has deep experience in using LPBF.The company runs Colibrium, Renishaw, and 3D Systems metal printers and works in titanium, tantalum, steel, and Co-Cr.The company has HIP onsite and makes hip implants, bone screws, knee implants, acetabular cups, and more.
Rather than just hang back and wait to get a complete order, Croom helps customers develop, get approval for, and industrialize implant manufacturing.The firm is now releasing Biofuse, its own porous geometry that clients can use for their implants.The advantage is superior bone ingrowth through deeply porous features.
The company says that, “This eliminates delamination risks, removes coating and machining steps, and ensures structural integrity and consistent quality, even in complex geometries.The result is a more predictable path from design transfer through to validated production, helping OEMs accelerate development and deliver implants with enhanced performance.” Sean McConnell, Engineering & NPI Manager at Croom Medical, states, “Biofuse draws on our additive experience, where we’ve seen firsthand how components can be both faster and more cost‑effective to print than to machine.Embedding lattice structures directly into the build removes coating and machining steps.
The result is a more predictable manufacturing process that consolidates production, preserves structural integrity, and helps OEMs bring implants to market faster.” In fact, 3D printed orthopedic implants can be significantly cheaper than conventional ones.Still, it has taken decades for the orthopedics industry to follow a few pioneers into using additive at scale.Dr.
Bryan Naab, Additive Lead at Croom Medical, said, “With Biofuse, customers can design lattices to their exact requirements.That might mean replicating a porous structure previously produced through coating methods, or proposing lattice characteristics.The flexibility of the platform gives OEMs confidence that their design intent can be realised consistently and in line with regulatory expectations.” Lattices generally have been overhyped, but in this application, a library or menu of lattice structures is a very advantageous thing to have.
If certain geometries have been validated, are research-backed, or have a proven track record, a proprietary geometry can be very valuable.For customers, this level of engineering and expertise points to Croom being a solid partner that goes further than others.Their implant may also function better as well.
At the same time, customers are more locked into the Croom platform and geometry, and may design around the company’s geometries in the future.I think that this is a very smart play by Croom.In a quest to attract new business, an approach of generating a functional addition to your offering that is available for customers seems like it could really work.
As marketing and branding, I think it definitely works.Generally, if we look at the future of Additive, proprietary geometries that will outperform will be worth a lot of money.Somewhere out there, there’s a perfect texture for a golf ball.
We know that companies have invested considerably in researching and protecting textures for osseointegration specifically.A slight edge here could give you a lot of market share and be a real advantage for patients.But, better blood flow to the implant, effects on biofilm, and reduced stress shearing are also geometry related things that perhaps could be trade secrets or patents.
If you find a lattice that can optimally mimic bone without wrecking other tissue, then that particular lattice will be worth a lot of money as well.The idea of commercializing, or renting out if you will, winning geometry is something that could be a very exciting business opportunity in the future.At the same time, there are only so many ways you can butter a sandwich.
Certain patented structures, textures, or ways of creating geometry could also slow innovation and block others from doing the obvious.We wrote about this already in 2021, talking about how proprietary textures could slow retard growth.All in all, smart thinking and action by Croom show that they are ahead of the curve in orthopedics.
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