3D printed acetabular cup Proxera ZARE
3D printed acetabular cup, used in hip-joint surgery: the ball fits securely inside the socket and rotates easily within the smooth cartilage lining.
Dental supplier Proxera is to expand into the 3D printed medical device market after additive manufacturing service provider ZARE acquired a majority stake in the company.
Proxera has successfully established itself as a manufacturer of semi-finished dental products, harnessing both Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technology and 5-axis CNC milling, but will now expand into medical under the control of ZARE. Although acting as an independent company, Proxera will lean on a fully integrated additive manufacturing value chain, that encompasses everything from sourcing metal powders through to post-processing and surface finishing.
This value chain will be implemented with the support of BEAMIT, who acquired ZARE in September 2020 and Sandvik, who acquired 30% of BEAMIT in 2019. Supplementing its existing in-house DMLS, CNC and Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) capacity, Proxera will benefit from a supply of titanium powders from Sandvik’s ISO 13485:2016 certified facilities, additional 3D printing technologies and GPA INNOVA’s DryLite finishing methods.
The companies involved with this transaction and expansion believe this integrated value chain will give Proxera a significant competitive advantage and allow the company to meet future market demands.
“Although the world is still struggling due to COVID-19 developments, we are looking at the future with great confidence and an unchanged sense of social responsibility,” commented Andrea Scanavini, CEO of ZARE and President of Proxera. “With Proxera, we want to be extraordinary leaders in technological breakthroughs and have a wider impact on society and people’s life. With this acquisition, we are immediately ready to use one of the most revolutionary technologies; one that is destined to transform how patients are treated, hence their quality of life.
“Certain personalised solutions and designs cannot be obtained with anything other than additive manufacturing, which guarantees maximum precision within extremely tight timeframes. Our team’s vast wealth of experience, combined with a supply chain driven and managed internally, enables us to maximise the potential of 3D printing to produce lightweight, sturdy, tailor-made components exceptionally quickly.”
No financial details of ZARE’s acquisition of Proxera have been disclosed.
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