Lincotek Medical PR
Lincotek Medical has announced the expansion of a manufacturing plant to meet the rising global demand for orthopaedic implants through new ‘technologies, automation and workforce training.’
The company has doubled its manufacturing footprint to around 25,000 square-feet in its Bartlett plant in the greater Memphis area, while also validating its AM processes in line with FDA guidance.
Lincotek believes itself to be among the leading providers of additively manufactured medical devices and has sought to improve its laser-based additive manufacturing capabilities in the US by aligning with FDA guidance and investing in an AM dedicated team. This team has been put in place to ensure additive manufacturing technology is delivering high quality medical devices, while also supporting the company’s customer base in managing their complex supply chains. An in-house metallurgical lab is supplementing this endeavour by helping Lincotek to maintain quality standards.
“If it is about additive technology for medical devices, Lincotek Medical is the go-to partner for OEMs, ensuring reliable and cost-efficient additive device manufacturing,” commented Lincotek Medical Managing Director USA Francesco Bucciotti. “Starting with additive manufacturing of medical devices in 2006, the company has profound additive development and production experience, significantly reducing time to market for its customers. The expansion of its coatings and additive capacity will allow the company to follow market growth and will significantly increase its flexibility and production capacity: orthopaedic OEMs will benefit from a reduced time to market on a global basis and stronger global risk mitigation capabilities.”
In addition to Lincotek’s increased commitment to additive manufacturing, the facility expansion has also allowed the company to increase its coating capacity with the purchased of a CAPS Intercooler and an Air Plasma Spray, as well as an automatic sandblasting machine. These tools have all been created by the Group’s Equipment Division, with the automated CAPS Intercooler said to be able to help Lincotek Medical replicate a high consistency of quality in coatings. Lincotek’s coating capabilities have been boosted further by the integration of the new APS line, which is based on the Lincotek ‘unique twin approach’ and allows movement from one line to another to achieve identical coating parameters just by moving the production programmes. Lincotek’s range of orthopaedic coatings is also supported by multiple master files with the FDA, while all process inputs are monitored and recorded to assure quality repeatability and help OEMs in process auditing.
Lincotek believes the expansion of its additive and coating capabilities will allow the company to follow market growth, increasing its flexibility and production capacity and helping its customers to reduce time to market.
“Despite the unique challenges in 2020 posed by COVID-19, the Lincotek Medical team has continued its strong support for OEMs with multiple successful product launches for both coatings and AM,” added Lincotek Medical General Manager Gennaro D’Andrea. “As the industry demand for orthopaedic implants continues to rise, Lincotek Medical is poised and ready to support the OEMs with the capacity, technology and experience required to produce high-quality products.”
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