MEDICAL DEVICES
Guidant in Partnership with Contax to Automate Key Steps in the Manufacture of Pulse Generator Products.
Contax Ltd - UK
Guidant Corporation is a world leader in the design and development of cardiovascular medical devices. The Guidant Ireland facility, where implantable pacemakers and defibrillators are manufactured, has recently partnered with automation equipment supplier Contax to automate key steps in the manufacture of their medical devices. The implementation of this first step towards in-line automation coincides with Guidant's recent announcement regarding expansion plans for its manufacturing facility in Clonmel, Ireland.
The Ireland facility has been in operation for six years. Having developed a high level of process expertise over time, the Ireland engineering team recognised that opportunities existed to automate some of the manual processes on the pacemaker and defibrillator lines. The Guidant automation team knew that the right automation partner would be crucial to the success of their automation efforts. Their search for a company who could draw from a wide spectrum of experience and equipment knowledge and who was flexible enough to work as a 'partner', as opposed to a 'supplier', resulted in the selection of Contax.
Initial focus was on the 'Bond Top' step involving the assembly of the plastic connector block to the body of the pacemaker device. This was the first step selected for automation, as the benefits were clear. Out of the collaboration between Contax and Guidant came innovative designs in mechanisms and fixturing that, following very successful implementation of the initial step, will now form the basis for the expansion of the automation project.
Commenting on the collaboration, John O'Donoghue, Guidant's process engineering supervisor, said, "We obviously had a very detailed understanding of the process required, but Contax brought the wide ranging knowledge of the automation systems available. They were able to take our requirements and then mix and match equipment - customising kit where necessary - to ensure that it met our demanding criteria."
The equipment used in the automation solution included an RC500 robot from MTA (Switzerland) with advanced volumetric dispensing capability for dispensing small volumes of medical adhesive in a controlled and repeatable fashion without the risk of overload. A customised multi-axes manipulation head was integrated also for the assembly tasks. Contax also specified a Shuttleworth transport and indexing system that not only satisfies cleanliness and ESD specifications but also is the ideal platform for flexible routing and line balancing as the line grows. The selection of a curing tunnel was also crucial as it had to provide both temperature and humidity control. Caltherm was selected as the manufacturer of choice, partly due to their proven track record in temperature and humidity control but also due to their willingness to adapt their design to meet Guidant's specific needs.
Joe Franey, Senior Technician in Guidant's automation team, believes that a lot has been learned since the project began over 18 months ago. Joe said, " We were careful to refine our designs through testing in our own lab, at Contax and at OEM sites as much as possible and the flexibility afforded to us by Contax and vice versa was key to the success of the project and the partnership."
Pallet and fixturing design was undertaken primarily by Guidant and prototypes were machined by Guidant's own in-house tool shop personnel.
The next phase of the project is now well underway to automate other process steps and to address the specific process requirements of other product families. Guidant plans to continue to have all of the automation on a common modular platform with product transported from step to step on the existing generic carrier. Guidant will be drawing upon Contax's expertise and technical knowledge to automate current practices, explore new methods, and implement new technologies that will result in improved processes.
Contax Ltd - UK
|
