Lightning speed: How Protolabs' on-demand manufacturing brings innovative products to the market faster

Medical Plastics News editor Laura Hughes recently attended the Industry 4.0 Summit and Expo in Manchester, United Kingdom. Here, Protolabs highlighted how its on-demand manufacturing option enabled Parker Hannifin to reduce development time, respond to customer feedback and bring innovative products to the market faster.

During the Industry 4.0 Summit and Expo Anastasios Pantelis, an application engineer from digital manufacturing specialist organisation Protolabs presented a case study. This case was based on how Donald E. Washkewicz, the former CEO of the Parker Hannifin Corporation brought a robotic exoskeleton to life via digital manufacturing.

It all started seven years ago when Parker Hannifin, a motion and control technology specialist investigated how to develop wearable robotic devices in the prosthetics and orthotics space. With the help of researchers at Vanderbilt University, Parker Hannifin worked to adapt robotics technology in order to increase mobility for patients with lower limb paralysis and to help these patients regain the ability to walk.

This partnership between Parker Hannifin and Vanderbilt University led to the development of a wearable exoskeleton which consisted of a brace worn on the hips and legs that could be powered by motors, batteries, and other electronics. This exoskeleton named Indego was commercialised and licensed.

The initial manufacturing process of the exoskeleton was determined to be suboptimal due to long delays when waiting for production quotes and also for parts to arrive. Protolabs however, aimed to relieve the company of these issues through methods such as offering the option of an interactive quoting system; something that was highlighted during the Industry 4.0 presentation.

Ryan Farris, a coinventor of the technology whilst conducting his doctoral work at Vanderbilt University explained, “we primarily use Protolabs to test new ideas. For instance, as we consider a potential design improvement, we want the ability to create parts and see how they perform as quickly as possible.”

An example is the component that serves as a light pipe for the device which requires a particularly quick turnaround. Farris explains the role of this part: “This little indicator is particularly important because this is how the user, the paraplegic, the stroke patient, or whoever is using the system knows what state they’re in, what mode they’re in, and what’s about to happen with the device.”

Originally the part was manufactured with a moulded thermoplastic, but the motion of the assembly did not co-operate well with the rigid plastic-like component. Therefore, a decision was made to manufacture this part with liquid silicone rubber (LSR), due to the flexible nature and durability of this material.

Protolabs’ LSR moulding process meant they were able to quickly manufacture several components. Farris stated: “We have been very happy with the switch to a LSR part. The light transmission is excellent, the visibility of the indicator to the user is excellent, and we have not had any durability issues since the change.”

Farris believes Protolabs’ moulding process allowed his team to save up to two months of time, but also acted as an example of the company’s strategic effort to listen to user feedback and rapidly implement product improvements.

“Our aim is to be as fast as possible. When we have new developments, part of our competitive advantage is speed. When we have issues in the field, one of the things that we believe shows concern for our customers in a big way is our speed of response,” Farris explained.

The on-demand manufacturing option provided by Protolabs enabled Parker Hannifin to reduce development time, respond to customer feedback and bring innovative products to the market faster. Additionally, Protolabs provided assistance to the development of the exoskeleton through its CNC machining and 3D printing capabilities.