Orthopedic implants represent a growth market, as medical understanding and capabilities converge with design and manufacturing advances to supply emerging demand from younger patients. "Since younger people are putting a lot of stress on their joints by extreme sports," the new partners state, "and because the life expectancy is increasing all over the world, the demand for artificial joints has been growing rapidly."
Because these products are anatomical replacements that are "implanted" into the body, they must meet exacting standards for repeatability and accuracy. Haas and Rösler say their objective is to develop a high-precision, repeatable process technology for final surface finishing of the implants.
Haas specializes in grinding technologies; Rösler offers a range of surface-finishing process equipment. They maintain that combining technical expertise for high-precision grinding and high-end surface finishing will lead to optimal technical solutions for implant manufacturers and their manufacturing processes.
Equipment and technologies developed by Haas are credited for establishing high-precision grinding and milling as the accepted standard for forming the final shape of orthopedic knee and hip implants. At the same time, the surface finishing specialists at Rösler adapted and refined existing drag finishing technologies to provide the final surface finish on the implants.
By combining their technologies, the two firms say it is possible to create high-quality finished products all the way from the raw castings or forgings. Detailed technical coordination between the two partners will help customers to define their product and manufacturing parameters during the planning phase. This will save time and provide an early overview of cost calculations and manufacturing specifications.
Haas Schleiftechnik and Rösler report that leading OEMs of engineered medical products already are taking advantage of their combined capabilities for final surface finishing of implants.
