Tecomet is a manufacturing and medical-technology firm with a 40-year history of supplying some big-name customers. The company excels in net-shape forging, photo-chemical etching, precision machining, and the ‘metal joining’ of critical components and complex assemblies for the medical-implant, aerospace and defence industries.
Tecomet was also the first company to: develop powdered-metal coating on a cardiovascular implant; manufacture a near-net-shape orthopaedic forging; forge a zirconium femoral implant; and fabricate a ‘high-transmission collimator’ for X-ray mammography.
Peter Wong,Tecomet’s vice president, has a realistic approach to developing new market opportunities. “The spinal-implant market isn’t so different to the medical markets we already knew well. We felt that if we invested in the right people and technology, and if we applied the same manufacturing principles and quality standards, we’d find the right parts to make — and the customers to buy them.”
Tecomet occupies two facilities, both with about 40,000ft
2 of purpose-built manufacturing space, and both located less than 30min from Boston, Massachusetts. The company’s headquarters are in Wilmington, as is the forging operation, while Woburn is home to its etching and precision technologies group, which has a multitude of machining and joining capabilities. Wilmington is almost entirely dedicated to medical; Woburn is approximately 50/50 medical and aerospace.
“Over the years, we’ve found that medical and aerospace make a good business combination. For one reason or another, when medical is growing, aerospace seems to be static or shrinking, and vice versa. As for medical sometimes flattening out, you would think that, with a growing and ageing population, the market would be expanding continually, but OEMs react to inventory levels just like in any other sector. When they launch a product, they buy way too much up front. We know the patterns, and we take a long-term view and formulate our strategy accordingly. Our biggest customer is Smith & Nephew, and I’m proud to say that in 12 years we have never missed a delivery, which has helped our reputation no end.”
Spinal-implant cell
People often assume that, in business, the opportunity comes before the action, but that is not always the case, as Peter Wong knows. He invested in seven Haas DT-1 machines (www.haascnc.com) before he knew how he was going to use them. A few months later in 2010, Tecomet had a new ‘state of the art’ machining department, and a thriving spinal-implant business unit at its Wilmington facility.
John Kaminski, the Tecomet manufacturing engineer responsible for the new set-up, joined the company a couple of months after the DT-1 machines had been installed; he was responsible for programming the spinal components and getting the new cell operational. “All of the machines are set up in the same manner. We have a Haas five-axis unit on one end of the table and a vice on the other, for secondary operations. This arrangement allows the operator to maintain throughput without having a major set up from one part to the next. All the programs get punched into the machine, and the tooling is already in the carousel, so going from one product to another is very simple. Even if a customer need a particular part right away, we can accommodate this.”
Although Mr Kaminski talks enthusiastically about the Haas machines, he says he had some reservations when he learned that the company had invested in the DT-1s. “This is a small space, so small-footprint machines were essential; and because in the early days we weren’t 100% sure what the product would be, we needed something with inherent flexibility. At first, I was a little sceptical about the Haas machines.
“Considering their cost, I didn’t feel that they would be a long-term solution for the department, but I was wrong — I’m sold on them now. They’re doing a good job; the repeatability is there, and we haven’t had any issues. Moreover, we don’t need to have an operator in front of every machine. Indeed, it’s an easy group of machines to manage, with one operator running all seven — and we have two more machines on order.”
Titanium machining
The parts the company eventually came to make are implants machined from solid titanium. “The biggest challenge in manufacturing these parts is the need to blend complex surface geometries that are machined with multiple tools and approached from several attitudes. It’s crucial to have the parts come off the machine with a minimum of bench work required to achieve the desired surface finish. We use a combination of 3+2 axis positioning and 4+1 axis simultaneous machining to produce these parts. The Haas machines, as we currently have them configured, are very accurate and, in many cases, operators have machined entire batches of parts with minimal off-setting required.
“To be honest, we initially selected the DT-1 machines because of the value they provide; we were subsequently able to add the Haas TR160Y table to give us full five-axis capability at a very reasonable price. We also added probing, which has proved to be a very valuable asset.”