Full-Service Agile Manufacturing Capability
FASTER. LEANER. LOWER COST. At SITES Medical, our full-service agile manufacturing platform allows us to produce smaller batch sizes economically, matching your end-customer demand and reducing inventory requirements. The system is underpinned by a near-zero machine setup time which allows us to switch from one production part number to another with virtually no measurable downtime. This capability is enabled by SITES Medical’s proprietary Dimensional Stabilization technology as well as standard fixturing and automated production and inspection.
Another aspect of our agile manufacturing approach is the use of High Velocity Materials. These are oversized, off-the-shelf castings, forgings, and machinable blanks that can accommodate multiple sizes and geometries to help you avoid the time and expense associated with SKU specific engineered materials.
Specific Manufacturing Capabilities
- Agile Manufacturing
- ✔Single-Piece Flow – Level 1
- ✔Make-to-Surgical Plan – Level 2
- Traditional Batch Manufacturing
- High Velocity Transfer to Production
- High Velocity Materials*
- Design For Manufacturability
- Dimensional Stabilization*
- Diffusion Bonding
- 5-Axis CNC Milling
- Laser Cutting, Wire EDM, Forming
- CNC Turning
- Blast, Belt/Polish
- Drag & Mass Finish
- Cleaning & Passivation
- Process, Tooling and Prototype Development
- Molding (Tool Design, Process Development, Production)
- Outsource Supplier Management
* Are proprietary to SITES and bring unique benefits including reduced time to market and reduced cost.
*High Velocity Materials
For orthopedic products requiring castings or forgings, traditional near net shape development processes can take over 12 months. To avoid this, SITES Medical engineered a set of universal, off-the-shelf castings and forgings that can accommodate various OEM designs and sizes. We also employ machinable blanks manufactured from various materials. These High Velocity Materials enable us to quickly machine an implant to size and adapt to implant design changes without the need to re-design SKU specific engineered materials, thereby reducing time to market. Once the design is frozen and volume is sufficiently high, we employ Targeted Castings/Forgings that are size specific, yet slightly oversized and enable multiple SKUs to be machined from a single casting/forging (eg. left/right, cemented/cementless, narrow/wide, CR/MP/KA designs, trials), reducing per part cost, time to market and inventory.
OsteoSync Ti cementless knee femorals, made from High Velocity Materials, benefit from tighter tolerances and a more consistent press fit, thanks to machined inside box geometry and dimensional uniformity.
*Dimensional stabilization
This proprietary SITES Medical process reduces dimensional movement that can occur during stress inducing (or relieving) manufacturing operations, such as porous-material bonding, machining, and polishing. Femoral knee components are especially susceptible to this movement. The Dimensional Stabilization process involves a vacuum furnace thermal cycle and attention to pre and post cycle processing step details to minimize reintroduction of stress into the components. This stabilizes the parts, eliminating the need for manual rework, supporting uninterrupted process flow, and enabling automation. As a result, parts move through manufacturing faster and more predictably.
Automated Production & Inspection
Inventory Reduction
Our Agile Manufacturing approach has demonstrated implant inventory savings across a variety of implant systems. The inventory figures shown below are for a mid-sized OEM’s cementless knee system and represent three different scenarios with the blue bars showing implant set field inventory and the orange bars showing warehouse/safety stock inventory in each case:
Let us help you achieve operational excellence and bring your innovations to life. Contact us today to learn how our comprehensive agile manufacturing technologies and services can support your needs and ensure the highest quality outcomes with your products.