Over the last few years, Inside 3D Printing has proven to be a lively, educational event that takes place around the globe. The New York version this year has grown to a full 3D Printing Week with multiple activities around the city the week of April 13 for everyone from the 3D Printing professional to anyone new to 3D Printing.
Potomac is honored to have been invited to serve on a panel discussion for the New York-based organization HCx3DP which is shorthand for Healthcare x 3D Printing. As one of the main drivers in the 3D printing industry, the healthcare market today produces over 200,000 medical devices per day via 3D Printing. These include dental and body braces, hearing aids, orthopedic surgical guides, and facial, cranial, and limb prosthetics. This does not include the widespread use of 3D Printing for rapid prototyping medical devices, nor its use in biotech.
3D Printing works particularly well in medical applications because its CAD based design capability allows for mass customization. A medical device can be personalized to the exact needs of a patient’s body reducing costs. Fitting or surgical implantation is faster and easier reducing doctor or surgeon’s time as well as in some cases less operating room and recovery time. Customized fit also reduces complications and gives a better user experience often increasing compliance by patients to use the device.
Biotech is an area of particular interest at Potomac. Our unique microfabrication expertise lends itself to the increased miniaturization happening in the space, especially in manufacturing microfluidic devices. As in medical devices, biotech benefits from digital fabrication’s CAD-based design process so that we can rapidly prototype custom designs at very low cost through our FAST TRACK program. Since any changes can be simply and quickly made in the CAD software, true iterative design testing can optimize a new microfluidic device.
Potomac has a novel process for combining 3D Printing with other technologies. For example, the channel size in microfluidic devices often exceeds the resolution limits available today for most 3D Printers. By laser micromachining channels into 3D Printed substrates, our customers get the best of all technical capabilities.
If you happen to be in New York for Inside 3D Printing be sure to sign up for our panel on expanding healthcare with 3D Printing. You can also learn more about our work with microfluidic devices on our FAST TRACK page.
