Plymouth, Michigan, USA, June 3, 2010. Materialise will begin medical production in Plymouth, Michigan to meet the increasing needs of the orthopaedic industry. In this difficult economy, growth is something to celebrate; especially when it results in better patient care!

Materialise is celebrating 20 years of “innovative product development resulting in a better and healthier world through its software and hardware infrastructure and in-depth knowledge of additive manufacturing”. On this special anniversary, Materialise is proud to begin a new chapter in the company’s bright history by moving their U.S. headquarters to Plymouth, Michigan. At this site, they will establish a state-of-the-art, additive manufacturing facility that will produce customized surgical guides. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation approved a tax credit for over a half of a million dollars (over seven years) to encourage Materialise to establish their ‘factory of the future’ in Michigan. The project is expected to create over 200 new jobs including 80 within Materialise.

Over the last three years, the SurgiCase® Orthopaedics team at Materialise has been providing a complete solution to its partners for total knee replacement. Additive manufacturing provides the ideal platform for creating surgical tools and guides that are customized for patient specific anatomy.

The purpose of a surgical guide is to reduce the cost and complexity of a procedure and may result in: fewer surgical instruments to sterilize, decreased OR time, faster patient recover and increased longevity of the implant. In addition, the surgeon is able to try different approaches before operating and can avoid having to make critical decisions on the spot. The process of creating guides includes several steps:

1.        A patient’s leg is scanned (MRI or CT) and the data is uploaded into an online case management system
2.        A 3D digital model and a surgical plan is generated for that patient
3.        Surgeon fine-tunes and approves the surgical plan
4.        Patient specific guides are manufactured and sent to the surgeon
5.        Surgeon uses the guides to transfer the surgical plan to the surgery

The guides will be built on selective laser sintering stations. The production process will be planned, controlled and tracked by Materialise’s Magics e-RP software. Magics e-RP automates the complete rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing process from order and data preparation, through platform scheduling and machine monitoring, to production planning and part tracking. It provides a complete overview of all operations and ensures process traceability which is critical for medical production. This solution plays an important part in Materialise’s ability to achieve ISO certification required for manufacturing medical instruments.

For further information, please contact Jamie Milas, Marketing Manager at 734-585-3397.

About Materialise

With its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium and branches all over the world, the Materialise Group is best known for its activities in the field of industrial and medical additive manufacturing. Apart from having the largest capacity of rapid prototyping equipment in Europe, Materialise enjoys a worldwide reputation as the provider of innovative software solutions. As such, Materialise has acquired the position of market leader for 3D printing and Digital CAD software in addition to being a major player in medical and dental image processing and surgery simulation. Its medical and dental products are used worldwide by renowned hospitals, research institutes and clinics. The group over 800 people in its 8 business units and has several subsidiaries in Europe, Asia and the North America. Its United States sales and technical support office was opened in 1996 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There are currently over 30 employees in the U.S. and the team will continue to grow through this expansion.