Medical Manufacturing Shop Gets 'Hip' to Better Production

摘要

The Irish subsidiary of a Kalamazoo-based company improved throughput and reduced machining time of hip, elbow, and knee joint replacements with a 5-axis CNC machine. When Stryker Corp., Kalamazoo, MI, opened its Stryker Orthopedics subsidiary in Cork, Ireland, in 1998, the Emerald Island division had 20 employees. Machining operations were carried out on a lathe and a milling machine. Today, Stryker Orthopedics has 320 employees and an exemplary shop that produces orthopedic implants using 21st Century equipment. To improve its equipment and processes, Stryker sought both machining and process advances. The company worked with several firms in completing its upgrades: Jabro Tools, the Netherlands, and Premier Machine Tools, North Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. Jabro is a unit of Seco Tools, a daughter company of Seco-Carboloy, Warren, MI.