If a machine shop is to survive in today’s market, it needs to approach their business in a logical fashion. It must invest in technological advancements. It must spend time and money on training its staff to work with the technology. It must also diversify. One potential market is the field of medical instruments and devices. Providing OEMs and other parties with medical machining provides shops the chance to increase their customer base.
What Medical OEMs Demand
OEMs demand a lot from machine shops. They expect them to perform to very high standards, meeting their exact specifications. To be successful in this market sector, a machine shop must:
* Exhibit a high skill set
* Be capable of producing complex components
* Produce tight tolerances
* Understand how to machine different materials
* Be efficient
* Be quick in producing the desired components
* Fall within the budget
* Provide all necessary work – this may range from preparing a prototype to assembly
Medical machining demands the shop work in partnership with the company to produce complex components with tight tolerances with preciseness. Machine shops must also ensure high levels of measurements and traceability.
The Future for Medical Machining
Today, many machine shops are increasing their customer base and marketability by becoming active in the medical machining industry. However, this market sector is not about to decrease its demand any time soon. The aging population continues to request and require various medical devices to improve their quality of life. Orthopedics is one area where medical OEMs are finding it necessary to not only increase production but also find novel ways to help the elderly retain their abilities to function normally.
Such trends are ensuring the future is good for those machine shops who can adapt. Those that identify the demands for increasingly precise medical devices and shift to address these concerns should prosper. Success lies with those who realize that machine shops should not be stagnant but dynamic in facing changing technology and markets.
