The Project

A medical device manufacturing customer was in need of a custom hub to secure a new hypodermic needle for a recent medical manufacturing production run. 

Challenge / Goals

This assignment required both design and manufacturing processes. The challenge was to meet the need to produce these parts at such a high volume and generate a print that would match the specified dimensions. The goal was to meet the customer’s unique standards at a targeted price based on their high volume order of 100k custom hubs per month.

What Hartford provided

Hartford Technologies researched similar caps and hypodermic needles to approximate the required dimensions for the hub. Design prints were created and approved. The parts were then prototyped on the CNC machines, allowing collaboration with the medical manufacturer to refine the new product prototype through to production. A coil-fed Escomatic machine was used in the process. These machines are required to give the ability to produce parts in high volume with short cycle times while still maintaining the required quality.

The connector hub for the hypodermic needle was made out of aluminum. The requirements for the finish of the part (being smooth with no nicks or tool marks) were much more strict than what is produced for other industries. Tolerances are also much tighter causing advanced inspection techniques. As a result, the production timing was adapted significantly to deliver the quality required. 

The Result

Approximately 1 million custom hubs were ordered–at a production rate of 100k components per month–in order to meet the customer’s target pricing requirements successfully.