RICOH 3D for Healthcare will deploy 3D printing software solutions from Materialise to support the development of medical devices.
Materialise Mimics Innovation Suite, 3Matic and Magics will be leveraged at Ricoh’s centralised medical device manufacturing facility and its Point of Care facilities, with RICOH 3D for Healthcare now expecting to ‘drive more personalised healthcare solutions.’
RICOH 3D for Healthcare is a HIPAA-compliant, ISO 13485 certified medical manufacturing centre for the development of 3D printed anatomic models, which is working with hospitals to set up onsite Point of Care facilities, supplementing its central medical device manufacturing base. By aligning with RICOH 3D for Healthcare, hospitals can adopt or advance Point of Care manufacturing without needing to become an FDA-registered medical device manufacturer. RICOH 3D for Healthcare received expanded FDA 510(k) clearance for 3D anatomic modelling back in May.
Working with Materialise, RICOH 3D for Healthcare will add a suite of software solutions to its existing application of Merge by Merative imaging solutions and Stratasys 3D printing machines. The Materialise Mimics Innovation Suite imports and segments medical image data, with the resulting 3D model able to be used for personalised device design, finite element meshing and 3D printing. The 3Matic software allows data from CAD designs, topology optimised models and simulations to be cleaned up, while Magics facilitates the build preparation step prior to 3D printing.
The integration of these software platforms into RICOH 3D for Healthcare’s workflows, Ricoh says, will allow the company to further democratise access to personalised medical products.
“Materialise’s software tools will not only help Ricoh provide a better experience for its customers, but also support Ricoh in its goal of democratising equitable access to impactful tools such as patient-specific anatomic models,” commented Gary Turner, Managing Director, Additive Manufacturing, North America, Ricoh USA, Inc. “The ecosystem of Ricoh partners, inclusive of Materialise, Merative and Stratasys, has enabled Ricoh to bring world-class software in a first-of-its-kind, end-to-end solution to different healthcare institutions around country to drive more Point of Care locations and capabilities nationally.”
“Outside of large academic medical centres, physician and patient access to 3D printing applications has been limited,” added Bryan Crutchfield, vice president and general manager of Materialise North America. “This is often due to a lack of resources and technical knowledge to implement and operationalise the technology in the hospital environment. This partnership with Ricoh brings a large managed services infrastructure, which will enable hospital systems to more quickly and affordably implement and scale 3D technology for their physicians and patients. We are excited to partner with Ricoh to bring our end-to-end software platforms to support 3D planning and 3D printing applications at the Point of Care.”
Additive Insight by TCT · #149 Ricoh's Gary Turner details the company's 3D printing workflows for healthcare
