KNOWLEDGE BASED MACHINING FOR MEDICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURERS

PartMaker Inc., a division of Delcam Plc, is a leading provider of CAM solutions to six of world's 10 largest medical device manufacturers (ranked by revenue by Reuters Group Plc), including such companies as Medtronic and Zimmer, Smith & Nephew, Biomet, and Johnson & Johnson. Many contract manufacturers serving the medical device industry rely on PartMaker CAM software to automate the programming of their multi-axis lathes and Swiss-type lathes, which are ideal for manufacturing such medical devices as implantables like bone screws and dental implants and instrumentation for use in surgical procedures.

Medical devices are ideal for manufacture on multi-axis lathes and Swiss-type because they are typically small and have very tight tolerance requirements which may not be obtained by less precise equipment. Because humans come in all shapes and sizes, lot sizes tend to be smaller in the medical device arena than other industries which use multi-axis lathes and Swiss-type lathes. Because so many different sizes of components are required, the need for CAM software to speed programming time and reduce machine set-up time is that much more acute.

PartMaker is a Knowledge Based Machining system, allowing it to provide a substantial gain in programming efficiency by remembering the tools, material and process information necessary to machine individual part features. It relieves the user from reentering the same features information for subsequent parts. It also improves productivity by placing the emphasis on tool management functions.

PartMaker pioneered the field of CAM software for Turn-Mills and Swiss-type lathes with its patented Visual Programming Approach for programming multi-axis lathes with live tooling. It assures quicker learning and easier use. It makes an extensive use of pictures to help the user describe tools, part features and machining data. Synchronization of tools working on multiple spindles is achieved by a few mouse clicks. www.partmaker.com