MD&M Minneapolis Recap

Last week, at Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) Minneapolis, we had the chance to catch up with some companies and, in some instances, view their latest products in action on the trade show floor.

The Pearl-900 Inspection System from CGI Inspection.

CGI Inspection (Eden Prairie, MN) demonstrated its brand-new Pearl-900 inspection system, which incorporates a touchscreen and is capable of scanning larger objects than the previous Pearl-700 system. It's always quite exciting to see something so complex happening in simplified form, right before your eyes.

Greg Crouch, Life Sciences Business Director, mentioned some exciting happenings with NI Labs, a section of their site that allows NI R&D engineers to introduce technologies that aren't quite ready for release, but can still be downloaded and tested by the community.

Bobby Wong, Medical Segment Marketing Manager for Renesas Electronics (Santa Clara, CA), pointed to an interesting observation; it seems that authentication is a rising area of concern among medical OEMs, who want to ensure that they are getting genuine equipment. And as devices are increasingly going wireless, ensuring that these devices can withstand a breach in security also becomes an important consideration. Renesas is also working to provide solutions for companies who want to make their devices Continua-compatible without starting entirely from scratch.

Silicone continues to prove its indispensability for medical applications. Just in time for the show, Vesta Inc., a silicone and thermoplastic contract manufacturing services provider, announced that it has acquired SiMatrix, a CM specializing in tight-tolerance medical-grade silicone sheeting and dip molding services. Meanwhile, GW Silicones announced that it plans to expand its liquid silicone rubber (LSR) capabilities in 2012. (In case you missed it in the July issue of MDB, catch up on the "cool" future of silicone extrusion here.)

NuSil (Carpinteria, CA) focuses on silicone technologies for long-term implants. They also recently introduced a silicone gel called the MED-9050. It looks like a hand cream, but it is actually designed for scar therapy applications — and serves as yet another example of the versatility of silicone materials in the medical industry.

The above is just a sample of the activity taking place in Minneapolis. The show was certainly a nice sendoff to 2011; we're looking forward to finding out what lies ahead in 2012.