EOS and IMDS Partner to Develop New Medical Products

Munich, Germany-based additive manufacturing company Electro Optical Systems (EOS) has been busy lately. From making executive hires to collaborating with partners, the company’s visibility is increasing. EOS now has agreed to partner with Innovative Medical Device Solutions (IMDS), a full-service medical device development and manufacturing company, to develop new medical products. Together the two firms hope to offer customers—orthopedic and spine surgeons as well as implant companies—product development resources for creating metal additive manufacturing (AM) designs.

“Until now, using AM for medical devices was considered a high-technology novelty done on a few implants, but mainly used to make quick metal prototypes,” said Dan Justin, chief technology officer for IMDS. “However, recent advances—such as increased materials choices, enhanced manufacturing precision and faster build speeds—have made medical product developers worldwide more willing to co-invest in developing implants made by laser-sintering systems. This partnership marks the most comprehensive resource alignment between contract medical device development and metal additive manufacturing expertise available to our industry.”

Having been in operation since 1989, EOS has solid experience designing and manufacturing laser-sintering systems that can create prototypes and end-use parts. IMDS specializes in partnering with medical device customers to develop and produce new implant and instrument systems. ESO recently added the latest-generation EOSINT M 280 direct metal laser-sintering (DMLS) system to its product development and manufacturing capabilities nationwide. The M 280 is an updated version of the EOSINT M 270, an additive layer manufacturing system for metal components. It builds metal parts from 3-D computer aided design data automatically with no need for tools, the company claims. The system builds parts up layer by layer by melting fine metal powder with a laser, enabling the creation of complex geometries. Parts can be made that wouldn’t be possible with computer numerical control machining, including deep groves and three-dimensional cooling channels.

In response to requests by major medical product developers, EOS and IMDS have begun investigating partnerships with other companies to innovate new technologies and products.

“Our laser-sintering technology has opened up a door for developers who have formerly focused on subtractive processes,” said Andrew Snow, regional sales director of EOS North America Inc. “Instead of being constrained by traditional technology, engineers and medical professionals are now free to explore a world of new designs—perhaps with varied porosity built in, or features nested inside.”

For example, most titanium implants currently are manufactured by subtractive machining, followed by adding a porous coating. Now, some implants under development are being built one 20-micron layer at a time on high-precision DMLS machines. Each finished product is a functionally gradient single piece that transitions from a precisely shaped porous structure to a less porous, more solid load-bearing structure—a design with significant performance benefits that is not practical to undertake with traditional processes. Other designs in development include patient-specific surgical guides for placement of pins, saws, and drills.

EOS and IMDS expect the partnership to provide orthopedic companies with a more cost-effective design-to-manufacturing pathway for customized implants—for instance, ultra-thin, bone-conserving hip, knee, and shoulder joint bearing implants—digitally designed from patient computed tomography scans. DMLS can build medical products from such federally-approved implant materials as stainless steel, cobalt-chromium, or titanium alloys.

EOS’ U.S. offices are in Novi, Mich., while IMDS is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

Photo of EOSINT M 280 courtesy of EOS.