Medical 3D Printing Solutions: 3D Systems Introduces Certified Partner Program, rms Company to Use 3DS Direct Metal Printing Technology

Today, 3D Systems made an announcement that’s music to medical companies’ ears: in order to accelerate its precision healthcare offering for manufacturing medical devices, its new certified partner program for medical device additive manufacturing companies has officially launched. The company’s healthcare capabilities run the gamut from simulation, 3D printed surgical devices, instruments, and patient-specific models to bioprinting and Virtual Surgical Planning, and it also has three dedicated healthcare facilities. The new partner program will offer its premium, secure services to medical device companies.

The first certified partner in 3D Systems’ new program and quality supply network is rms Company, located north of Minneapolis and founded in 1967. The supplier works with some of the top medical device manufacturers in the world, and is a premier manufacturer itself of components for the orthopaedic market, along with other medical device markets. Using 3D Systems’ Direct Metal Printing (DMP) technology, rms will focus on designing, developing, and manufacturing medical implants.

“This partnership provides our mutual customers with access to the 3D printing, machining and secondary processing capabilities of two market leaders. Working together we have created a world-class service center for the manufacture of medical implants,” said Lee Zachman, President of rms Company. “With the support of our parent company, Cretex, we will have the resources to rapidly invest and grow our capacity to meet the increasing needs of our customers. The ability to print parts, add machined features and perform secondary processing in one location provides our customers with a speed to market advantage that is hard to parallel.”

In addition to rms Company, other Cretex companies include:

• rms Surgical and rms Connectors
• JunoPacific
• Spectralytics
• Meier
• QTS
• Elk River Machine Company (ERMC)
• Cretex Materials and Cretex Specialty Products

This new partnership will take 3D Systems’ equipment, process, and materials expertise and combine them with the manufacturing expertise that rms Company brings to the table. As a certified partner of 3D Systems, rms Company will receive preferred access to the company’s experts, and as part of the certification process, rms has validated 3D Systems’ ProX DMP 320 3D printer, along with its materials and critical support processes. The giant ProX DMP 320, which was released in early 2016, is number six in 3D Systems’ ProX DMP line, and is optimized for complex industrial applications. rms Company is already working with several of its orthopedic customers to develop and manufacture implants with titanium powder, and the ProX DMP 320 will be a big help with this initiative.

3D printing will allow rms Company to manufacture more complex parts; the designs of these parts promote better bone in-growth with the help of 3D printed trabecular surfaces and internal matrix surfaces that are only possible with 3D printing. Thanks to its new partnership with 3D Systems, and the ProX DMP 320, the company will be able to add secondary features to these devices and deliver a finished product solution to its customers from a single source, saving both time and money.

3D Systems’ unique, first-of-its-kind partnership with rms Company will allow other medical device companies to keep the development and production of FDA-cleared medical devices under the same roof, so to speak, which will make the process much more efficient.

Kevin McAlea, Executive Vice President, General Manager, Metals and Healthcare, 3D Systems, said, “We want customers to be able to choose among multiple partners with the same level of medical device manufacturing expertise as 3D Systems. With our new certified partner program and our ability to insource models for large medical device companies at our certified facilities in Denver, CO, and Leuven, Belgium, we are able to offer the same quality experience to a broader set of customers.”

Discuss in the 3D Systems forum at 3DPB.com.