FEATURE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT & DEVICES
WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
Alan Mucklow, Managing Director UK & Ireland Sales and Service Division at Yamazaki Mazak
An ageing global population is driving extraordinary growth in the market for medical equipment, which is placing huge demands on suppliers to the sector, in terms of both product quality and lead times. Here, Irish Manufacturing explores some of the main machining challenges facing local manufacturers, and speaks to both Yamazaki Mazak and its distributor for the Irish market, HW Machine Tools Co. Ltd, about how the company has developed a suite of machines ready-made to thrive in one of industry’s most nuanced sectors
“T
he needs of medical device manufacturers can vary widely, with a combination of capabilities being required from Multi-Tasking to 5-axis work,” begins Alan Mucklow, Managing Director UK & Ireland Sales & Service Division at Yamazaki Mazak.
“However, on the whole, we have found
that companies in this field are looking for a combination of factors from their machining centres. These include an extremely high degree of accuracy and repeatability, a rigid machine platform to achieve a high-quality surface finish, sufficient spindle power for difficult- to-cut materials, and a design that can be easily integrated with automation technology.”
Medical device manufacturers often work with extremely hard-to-cut metals such as titanium, chrome alloys and stainless steel. This has, in turn, led to the development of machining centres with a very rigid platform and stable trunnion table to meet this need. Alongside rigidity, extreme accuracy and precision are both prerequisites
30 APRIL 2021 | IRISH MANUFACTURING
when working with such metals, which can be processed for components as diverse as the elements of orthopaedic devices, to dental implants and surgical tools. Given the applications these machined parts are used for, a high-spec finish is expected as standard. Mr Mucklow continues: “When considering the purpose of the components that make up a hip joint, for instance, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Instead, a high degree of customisation is required depending on the individual’s height and posture. “As a result, innovation has been driven
toward creating adaptable machining centres that can provide extremely accurate single jobs, while also being capable of providing large quantities of high-volume repeat parts with unerring precision. There has been a focus on developing the use of technologies, such as Mazak’s own Smooth Control CNC solution, that allow the more intuitive operations and easy editing of machine programs required to achieve this goal.” For the Irish medical market in
particular, adaptability has long been a major buying consideration for medical subcontractors. Godfrey McCurry, Technical Manager at HW Machine Tools, continues: “There has always been a strong drive towards Multi-Tasking machines among Irish manufacturers working across the medical industry, particular for models from Mazak’s INTEGREX and VARIAXIS series. “The market itself is quite diverse, and we work with customers whose operations vary significantly. At one end, you have customers who undertake the high-volume manufacture of single pieces, for whom machine uptime is critical. At the other end, there are customers who specialise in innovation and R&D, and so work in lower volumes with a higher mix. Here, fast fixturing and low set-up times are key.” One of the defining challenges for medical device manufacturers is the competitive nature of the sector. Machine tool manufacturers have attempted to tackle this issue in a number of ways but the impact of the
/ IRISHMANUFACTURING
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