When approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the ArthroFree system is expected to be the first wireless surgical camera system for the minimally invasive operating room.
Medical device and technology company Lazurite Holdings LLC announced a new phase of collaboration with University Hospitals (UH) Ventures, the innovation and commercialization arm of University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland, Ohio, which will include an investment from UH Ventures. The amount and details of the investment were not specified.
This past August, Lazurite announced its collaboration with UH Ventures on a human factors study of the ArthroFree system and said it hoped the study would be the beginning of a broader, longer-term collaboration.
“This partnership is a great example of the way in which we can work to progress technologies from our local region. We look forward to exploring clinical studies with the Lazurite team and continuing to expand the relationship,” says David Sylvan, president of UH Ventures.
The ArthroFree system is expected to be the first wireless surgical camera system for the minimally invasive operating room approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The system incorporates the company’s proprietary low-heat, high-intensity Meridiem light technology along with advanced camera, battery, and wireless transmission technologies. The system is designed to deliver improved operating room productivity, patient safety, and economic value through cost-savings, energy efficiency, and reduced setup/breakdown times. The modular system also is designed to be fully drop-in compatible with current operating room technology. Approval by the FDA is expected by mid-year 2022.
“We are excited to have UH Ventures as an investor and to work with UH’s surgeons and surgical staff as our partners in additional studies and research related to the ArthroFree system and future products we are developing,” says Lazurite President Leah Brownlee. “I believe this collaboration will be critical to our success and will further advance University Hospitals’ reputation as an innovative leader in advancing new medical technology.”
The ArthroFree wireless surgical camera system has not yet received FDA clearance and is not currently approved for human use. It is not intended for commercial distribution; orders cannot be accepted at this time.
Join us as a panel of women in a range of manufacturing roles discuss their experiences and what they are doing to get more females involved in the industry.
Per the U.S. Department of Commerce, although women represent about 47% of the total workforce, they only make up about 30% of the 15.8 million people employed in manufacturing industries. Furthermore, only 1 in 4 manufacturing leaders are women, so the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion are top of mind for many.
To learn the latest thoughts from women in manufacturing, join Elizabeth Engler Modic as she moderates a roundtable discussion on Thur., March 31 at 12PM ET, with leading women involved in manufacturing. Panelists include Dr. Heike Wenzel, CEO of WENZEL Group; Veronica Messersmith, Vice President of Strategic Relations, Americas at Sandvik Coromant; and Alyssa O’Brien, Product Engineer with OSG USA.
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Get answers to your cutting tool challenges when you attend Today's Cutting Tool Advancements webinar.
When you register for the March 16, 2022, 12PM ET webinar you will learn what's new in cutting tools – from advanced coating technologies to implementing best tool management practices. Our panel of experts from CGTech, Greenleaf, Hoffman Group, ISCAR, and Sandvik Coromant will dive into these topics as they apply to a range of industries. Learn about:
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The answer to manufacturing’s waste problem is hidden in data
In reshaping the world towards a new, post-pandemic normal, the industry must leverage digital transformation at an accelerated pace. This is already happening — according to IBM, 67% of manufacturers have accelerated digital projects since COVID-19. While improved operational efficiency is typically the reason for these changes, the industry should capitalize on the convergence of Industry 4.0 and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals to improve their sustainability credentials. Here, V R Vijay Anand, Head of Digital Machining at global leader in metal cutting Sandvik Coromant, explains why data holds the key to reducing manufacturing’s waste problem.
Despite the uptake of digital tools, only 59% of manufacturers cite improved sustainability as a reason to digitalize their operations. However, digitalization’s potential extends far beyond its perceived applications. Data collated by the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries (Teknikföretagen) emphasizes the importance of digital tools in achieving sustainability goals — leveraging IT technology in other sectors, such as manufacturing, has the potential to reduce total CO2 emissions by as much as 20%.
Increasing digital tool use is vital to aligning manufacturing activity with the Paris Agreement, increasing resource efficiency and, crucially, reducing waste. Globally, industrial waste generation is almost 18x greater than municipal solid waste, according to the most recent data from the World Bank. All manufacturing facilities generate waste, a lot of which could be avoided.
Overproduction and defect output are two of the most common contributors to waste generation. Facilities running on legacy technologies that lack the sophistication to deal with the challenges of modern-day manufacturing are far too common. However, this doesn’t mean that manufacturers should accept huge waste generation as an unavoidable consequence of production. Industrial waste must be reduced, and data can play a key role in achieving this – if manufacturers know what to do with it.
Improving operational efficiency Every manufacturing facility, regardless of its size, complexity, or age, generates a significant amount of data every day. In a smart factory, this data includes everything from equipment performance to product quality and is collected via sensors installed on each machine. Starting small, with each individual machine’s data, is the first method of reducing waste on a large scale.
Small changes to individual processes accumulate and together have a huge impact on operational efficiency. Collecting data from machinery on the shop floor and analyzing it allows manufacturers to monitor and act on machine data. Manufacturers can then use this data to optimize individual machine processes that significantly contribute to overall energy use by detecting inefficient processes, streamlining production and logistics planning and predicting upcoming maintenance needs. By making several smaller processes more energy efficient, data can be used to control — and reduce — overall energy consumption.
Energy inefficiencies can be identified in real time, giving manufacturers the opportunity to identify potential reasons and solutions. For example, when looking at energy consumption data, manufacturers may discover one piece of equipment that uses significantly more energy than others. Using this information, manufacturers can then identify the cause of increased power consumption and implement improvements to streamline machine efficiency and reduce energy waste.
Continuously analyzing data in real time can also help streamline machine maintenance. Data analytics can identify upcoming problems before they happen. If a machine experiences a problem or a change in performance, it may start to produce parts that are not fit for purpose, which would ultimately end up as waste. Data on machine performance can help to identify minute changes in machine behavior as soon as they occur, so that engineers can carry out predictive maintenance before multiple defective products are produced.
The CoroPlus suite of products in the Data Driven Machining offering from Sandvik Coromant, helps manufacturing organizations improve efficiency, reduce waste, and increase productivity. The CoroPlus Process Control monitors machines in real time and triggers actions in accordance with programmed protocols. If specific, predetermined issues occur, the solution automatically triggers a correctional action, e.g., stopping the machine or replacing a worn cutting tool. Conducting maintenance in this way improves operational efficiency by as much as 89% and reduces waste by allowing manufacturers to assess data, monitor machine performance, and identify faults before they occur.
Considering the whole life cycle Data produced by conducting life cycle assessments (LCA) can also help reduce waste. An LCA assesses the environmental impact of a product at every stage of its life span by considering how a product's raw materials are extracted, the quantity of resources required, the materials and energy used during manufacturing, packaging and distribution, the impacts of the product’s functional use, and the waste and pollution created at the end of the product's life.
By considering every single step of the product’s life cycle, an LCA leaves no stone unturned. Once an LCA has been completed, manufacturers can identify big sustainability flaws in a product, evaluate the sustainability of products still in development, and design new, more sustainable solutions.
However, it is not just the products themselves that must be considered, but also their packaging. Packaging is necessary but raises many environmental concerns due to its demand for resources. The problem is also shared globally. In the UK, nearly 44 million tons of packaging waste are produced annually by commerce and industry, while 28% of total municipal solid waste in the US is attributed to packaging.
Sandvik Coromant recognizes the problem with packaging, even for products like cutting tools, and recently launched its package selector application (PSA). The PSA uses data to analyze a 3D CAD model of the Sandvik Coromant product to be packaged, identifies its critical points, and uses an AI algorithm to recommend the smallest amount of packaging possible. This improves the LCA of Sandvik Coromant’s tools by reducing packaging waste produced for their distribution to manufacturers.
Circularity through transparency Data can also be used to facilitate a closed loop manufacturing chain, where waste from one process is used as a resource in another. Operating in this way promotes a circular manufacturing economy, where waste is minimized as much as possible through continuous reuse.
Using data from an LCA, along with machine data, manufacturers can improve the efficiency and circularity of their products through constant product and process improvements. Efficiently implementing a production system of this kind requires a robust data strategy. To create a strong data architecture, manufacturers need a digital infrastructure that can easily synchronize operations, potentially across several locations, and identify opportunities to utilize waste that would otherwise be in silo. Sandvik Coromant’s CoroPlus suite of machine connectivity and sensor embedded tool solutions makes digital machining accessible to manufacturers, equipping them with the “close to cutting-edge” data needed to make use of their waste resources for more sustainable operations.
Data can seem overwhelming at first — with such vast quantities available, it can be hard to determine what to do with it. However, with the correct strategy, it can prove an extremely valuable tool for reducing industrial waste by improving efficiency, enabling predictive maintenance, inspiring innovative product development, and streamlining resource management across machines, facilities, and even entire companies.
For more information visit www.sandvik.coromant.com or join the conversation on social media.
The ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout used by Exact Metrology digitizes complex parts including the internal geometries at the finest level of detail.
Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company and a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, scanned a titanium cervical spine locking plate. The scan was completed by Brendon Belongia, an applications engineer at the Brookfield, Wisconsin office using the ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout.
The METROTOM 6 scout digitizes complex parts including the internal geometries at the finest level of detail. Users obtain a complete 3D image for GD&T analysis or nominal-actual comparisons. High- resolution images can be captured for precise measuring tasks or detailed inspections of internal structures. Be it shrinkage holes, pores, cracks, sink marks or warpage, all defects or deviations can be detected nondestructively. Furthermore, the combination of a 3k detector and 225 kV X-ray enables ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout to provide high contrast, high-resolution measurement results and exceptional sharpness of detail. As a result, even the smallest defects in the part become visible and can be analyzed to the last detail. A 5-axis kinematics with integrated centering table helps clients optimally position the part in the measuring volume and the control of the device and the metrological evaluation of the data are combined in a single software package, making additional software or intermediate steps redundant.
With this CT scan, the company demonstrates its ability to scan even the smallest part, such as 4mm. This vertebrae plate was measured within a 5-micron resolution and used a deviation color map with the GOM Volume Inspect software. The color representation of a point cloud or mesh data set is compared to its intended, nominal CAD model. This spectrum of colors can tell users how far a value deviates compared to the CAD surfaces. Thus, a weak spot can be detected and can be fixed before a part is used.
The ability of the ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout to see the tinniest defect or detail is especially crucial for medical devices, especially those that go into the human body.