Rapid tooling has a wide range of applications in various industries, including the medical industry. The medical industry can benefit from the production efficiency offered by the rapid tooling process, such as in their medical device prototyping.
This guide will help you learn about the industries that will benefit from rapid tooling and medical device prototyping, along with the pros and cons of this prototyping process.
Medical Device Prototyping – What is It?
Medical device prototyping is the prototyping process used for the manufacturing of various medical devices and products, which has the purpose of testing the medical products before mass production. There are various methods of medical device prototyping you can use, but rapid tooling is the most common method used for this manufacturing activity.
Rapid tooling can help manufacturers create the sample medical devices or products and test various features as fast as possible. Manufacturers can also create various versions of the medical device prototypes at the same time, so that the quality checking team can perform the testing process for these prototypes with the best efficiency.
What Industries Benefit from Rapid Tooling and Medical Device Prototyping?
Rapid tooling has been contributing a lot in the medical-related industries, as this manufacturing technology allows the medical facilities to perform medical device prototyping to test various medical products before they release them to the public. Medical facilities often use the help of rapid prototyping companies to perform the medical device prototyping for various products they plan to release to the market.
So, what are the industries that will benefit from rapid tooling and medical device prototyping? Here are the industries that will benefit a lot from rapid tooling and medical device prototyping:
- Medical industry. The medical industry is the primary industry that will benefit from medical device prototyping, as this is the industry where most people get in touch with every single day. Medical device prototyping can help create prototypes for various common medical devices and products, which will help heal the wounds, diseases, and various other medical conditions of the patients or general population.
- Pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical industry is another industry that will benefit from medical device prototyping, as it can help the pharmaceutical industry to build, develop, or research better medicines for various diseases and medical conditions. You can also use medical device prototyping to produce various pharmaceutical tools to help with the manufacturing of drugs that have a variety of structures or shapes.
- Prosthetics industry. The prosthetic industry will benefit a lot from the rapid tooling and medical device prototyping, as it can help the companies in the prosthetic industry to build various implants and prosthetic products for people who need them. They can also test various features of their prosthetic and implant prototypes before they release them to the public.
- Surgical industry. The surgical industry requires a lot of surgical tools to help the doctors and medical professionals perform various surgical operations. With rapid tooling and medical device prototyping, they can test the effectiveness of various surgical tools before releasing them to use in various hospitals and medical facilities.
Pros and Cons of Using Rapid Tooling for Medical Device Prototyping
Pros
- Faster QC process for medical device prototypes. Creating medical device prototypes with rapid prototype tooling will allow you to perform a faster quality checking process to ensure that all features of the device are functional. Any problems with the features of the device can be fixed as soon as possible, thanks to the production efficiency of rapid tooling.
- Fast prototype production for multiple sample medical products. When you need multiple sample products or prototypes for your medical products, you can use rapid tooling to produce these prototypes. In just a few hours, you can get your prototypes done, and you can check each variation of the medical device and determine which one is best for you to use for the final product.
- Best for on-demand medical device production. Medical device prototyping with rapid tooling is best to use for on-demand medical device production, such as the devices that need to be distributed to as many medical facilities as possible. Rapid tooling allows you to get your on-demand medical devices in active production as soon as possible.
- Balancing the fast growth of the medical sector. Rapid tooling can also help supply the medical devices needed in the medical sector, especially when the demands are rising. Thus, this rapid manufacturing method can help balance the fast growth of the medical sector.
- Creating affordable products for customers in the medical sector. With the advantage of rapid tooling being a cost-effective manufacturing method, you can use it to produce affordable products for the customers in the medical sector. You can cut the production time and costs with rapid tooling and medical device prototyping and deliver various medical products at the best price for the customers.
Cons
- Lack of accuracy. It is important to understand that rapid tooling is a rapid manufacturing process, so it will not be as accurate as the regular tooling process. However, the accuracy and precision will be just right if you don’t produce any medical device that requires very detailed and precise accuracy.
- Lower quality molds. When you create molds with rapid prototyping, it will be of lower quality, and it will also not last very long. So, keep this in mind, as you will need to keep creating the molds for the medical products you manufacture with this method until you reach your production goal.
- The process can be too repetitive. When creating medical device prototypes or any other prototypes with rapid tooling, the process can be very repetitive. Thus, you might need to employ more people to oversee the rapid tooling process, especially during the active production of various medical products within a tight deadline.
Conclusion
With rapid tooling and medical device prototyping, various medical-related industries will benefit a lot from the fast and efficient manufacturing process that it offers. Medical facilities can test various medical devices and products at a much faster rate, which can help them release their medical products to the market as soon as possible.
In the end, this manufacturing technology can help medical facilities improve their way to help their patients to heal and recover faster from their diseases and various other medical conditions.
