The medical technology industry has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last century, due in large part to innovative manufacturing methods. Cutting-edge approaches to joining dissimilar metals have led to improvements in instrument flexibility, while decreasing overall weight.
This has impacted the industry in several significant ways. For starters, these bonding techniques have reduced the amount of materials necessary to build a range of tools, thereby cutting manufacturing costs.
By increasing ease of use and efficiency, medical procedures have become less invasive and less costly to both patients and healthcare providers. With the addition of millions of individuals who will now have health insurance as a result of healthcare reform legislation, combined with the aging generation of baby boomers, advancing technologies will play an even greater role in making treatments more affordable.
"It is no secret that the medical industry remains one of the most stable industries when it comes to growth. Even during the Great Recession, medical sales in companies like Ulbrich Stainless Steels and Special Metals, Inc. dropped 5 percent in 2009, only to come back with an astonishing 43 percent increase by the end of 2010," according to a TechBriefs whitepaper released earlier this summer.
The source goes on to point out that innovative American manufacturing technologies can open up markets in other parts of the world that have yet to mature to the same level as the United States. A large portion of the booming population in China is getting older and subsequently requiring more and more medical care.
This presents a wealth of opportunities for American medical equipment manufacturers and design process innovators developing high strength solder solutions.