Like any emerging technology, it takes time for industry to truly realize and embrace the potential. This has consistently been the case with additive manufacturing as many manufacturers have toyed around with the technology trying to find the best opportunities to capitalize on its potential. One of the biggest promises of additive manufacturing has been the ability to offer mass customization. And it has happened, especially in niche markets.
3D printing solution provider Essentium and Vorum, a pioneer in the use of 3D scanning combined with CAD/CAM for orthotics and prosthetics (O&P) design and fabrication have entered into an exclusive partnership. The partnership will create an enable the production of mass-customized O&P devices at speed and scale. It also provides a proven transition methodology including proof of concept mapped to individual customer business goals, design, deployment path, training, installation and support.
“Our partnership with Essentium means we can offer O&P customers the confidence that they will have the device they desire every time they print,” says Vorum CEO and Founder Carl Saunders. “We know that practitioners don’t want to waste their time with experimental technology – they want to know that their investment in a 3D print solution will deliver the best devices for their patients. With our SurePath solution, we know that what Vorum can provide in collaboration with Essentium is a trusted end-to-end solution for the digital design and manufacture of orthotics and prosthetics that have the ability to improve people’s lives.”
Until now, the absence of a reliable 3D printing platform and the lack of materials able to produce O&P devices of optimal strength and weight have been a major barrier to health organizations establishing 3D printing O&P devices. The partnership brings together the Essentium High-Speed Extrusion (HSE) 3D Printing Platform and materials with Vorum’s O&P CAD/CAM solutions and SurePath methodology. With 30 years of experience in O&P digital processes, Vorum developed SurePath to provide O&P clinicians with a proven approach for 3D printing implementation, training and support.
The goal is to enable O&P practitioners to make a swift and successful transition from plaster-casting methods to 3D printing in any production setting. It removes the risk, complexity and economic barriers of transitioning from legacy O&P production to 3D production. By delivering the benefits of scale, speed, reliability and mass-customization, it will give O&P practitioners more time to focus on patient health, and patient access to the most advanced O&P devices available.
“Our ground-breaking 3D printing platform combined with Vorum’s expertise will not only help O&P customers embrace a faster, more efficient method for producing custom-made orthotics and prosthetics, but the medical devices will also be produced with high quality and durability,” says Essentium CEO and Co-founder Blake Teipel. “Together we are re-writing the business and production model for O&P professionals that bring profoundly important mobility and independence to their patients.”
