The healthcare industry has benefited from additive manufacturing (AM) technology for many years, particularly for producing patient-specific dental and orthopaedic implants. Enrico Orsi, AM product manager at global engineering technologies company Renishaw, explores how the healthcare industry can now move from small-scale production of customised parts towards volume manufacture.

When compared to traditional manufacturing methods, AM is a relatively new technology, which presents some barriers to its mass adoption.

AM was originally developed to manufacture high-value products in small batches, so before investing this process often requires a careful cost assessment. None more so than in the healthcare industry, which is a highly regulated industry, and any qualification process will therefore require a great deal of testing to ensure specifications are met.

Overcoming the barriers

As AM processes have developed, system manufacturers have enhanced the technology to broaden adoption...