Medical Design & Manufacturing West 2013, along with UBM Canon’s sister shows for packaging, automation, design, plastics, electronics, aerospace and sustainability provided a cornucopia of activities this year.
With keynote speakers, live product teardowns, VIP Receptions, Innovation Briefs, an improved conference track, and of course, some networking, the aisles were bustling with attendees and the booths busy with product announcements and showcases.
A team from Creation Technologies was on hand to showcase our diverse manufacturing and design capabilities, discover some new developments in the field of Medical Devices and meet some new people along the way.
Here are some of the highlights…
The Center of Attention
The main focus of many conference sessions and corporate announcements this year was bioresorbable and bioabsorbable materials. These polymers are the future of medical devices, allowing for more instinctive and less invasive healthcare.
Bioabsorbable polymers are plastic-based materials that dissolve into compounds the body can safely absorb or eliminate. Absorbption is useful in many applications, as it enables the safe internal use of medical devices, wound care implements and drug delivery systems, without requiring removal.
One exhibitor, Lubrizol, announced a new formulation of bioabsorbable polymers, not for cardio applications but rather for orthopedic, wound-care, and hernia-mesh components. The company’s new polymer technology enables it to design customizable physical properties, including strength, rigidity, and abrasion resistance. The material can also be designed to allow tailored degradation rates to accommodate diverse healing requirements.
If you want to learn more about world-changing bioabsorbable polymers and new technology, check out the Lubrizol website at www.lubrizol.com.
Environmentally Friendly
I enjoy learning about any company that is working to improve the environment and create a better tomorrow, and so the Butler-MacDonald booth piqued my interest. The theme of their booth this year was “Turning Plastic Scrap into Usable Plastic.” Jars and pictures of plastic material everywhere really caught my attention.
Butler-MacDonald offers plastic recycling services that enable the recovery of high-quality polymers from plastics or parts that most companies would consider unusable. They have the technology and processes to take plastic that has been contaminated, poorly recycled or scrapped, and deliver polymers that are ready to be manufactured into a wide variety of applications.
So scrap everything you know about unusable plastics! Check out the Butler-MacDonald website: http://www.butlermacdonald.com.
Just Plain Cool
I will admit it was the ultra-cool, illuminated air guitar that really caught my attention at the Clippard booth.
http://www.youtu.be/sesQT84zMHY?rel=0
I was surprised that it was unavailable for me to take home and listen to on a regular basis!
What I discovered is that Clippard has been providing solutions for pneumatic, motion and process control devices to the scientific, medical, dental and analytical markets since 1941. The company excels in understanding OEM’s needs for precision, reliability and purity in critical applications, something at Creation we know is critical in the Medical Device industry.
At the show this year, Clippard highlighted the industry’s most robust and powerful linear actuator, the high-flow, stepper-controlled 2-way proportional SCPV valve that is unsurpassed in performance and durability. They also had some really cool tunes!! (As evidenced by the guitar).
With over 2,000 exhibitors covering nearly 350,000 square feet of space I know I didn’t see everything. However, I did meet some great people and it was interesting to see and hear about the new exciting technologies within the medical industry.
What booths caught your attention? What was the best seminar you attended? How would you rate MD&M 2013 vs. MD&M 2012?
