The trend in medical engineering towards smaller, lighter, more intelligent and personalized medical devices is driven by progress in manufacturing technologies. For example, prostheses and orthoses can be manufactured individually for each patient, minimally invasive surgical instruments can be manufactured in small quantities and medical products can be provided with intelligent surfaces. In order to fully take advantage of this potential for the patients’ benefit, cost-effective production processes and process chains are required that can cope with the high demands placed on the complexity and heterogeneity of products. In the medical technology sector of the future, production will therefore also use new manufacturing processes that are networked, flexible and allow data-supported process optimization.
Individualized products offer various advantages for patients. In order to produce safely and successfully despite small lot sizes, manufacturers need high-performance manufacturing concepts.
The combination of modern sensor technology, innovative manufacturing processes and high-performance materials creates a new generation of intelligent, multifunctional medical products.
To combine biological and technical materials can significantly expand both the biocompatibility and the functional spectrum of medical devices. However, their production requires flexible, adaptive processes.
Minimally invasive procedures are gentle on patients and also reduce the workload on hospitals. We investigate high-performance procedures for the production of suitable instruments and innovative sensor technology.
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT