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Photo courtesy Trumpf Inc. 

Lasers in Medical Manufacturing 

Trumpf offers laser-cutting technology 

to use in manufacturing pacemakers. 

Laser Makers Under Pressure: 

Do More, Faster 

Lasers get more powerful, accurate 

and affordable, improving productivity 

of laser marking and cutting 

Ilene Wolff 

Contributing Editor 

Lasers are superior for marking medical tools 

and devices because the marks they make 

are flat, which is crucial: Any crevice, no matter 

how small, can provide a home for germs 

to congregate and reproduce. 

So an impending new rule expected from 

Washington may help companies that sell laser marking 

systems to medical device manufacturers fatten up their 

bottom line. 

In 2012 the Food and Drug Administration proposed 

the new rule requiring the more than 5000 

May 2013 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 65


Photo courtesy Miyachi Unitek Corp. 

This sample shows high-speed tube banding using the 

Miyachi Unitek LMF3500-HP laser marker. 

domestic medical device manufacturers and their foreign 

counterparts to add a unique device identification—a numeric 

or alphanumeric identifier—to some of the 1700 different 

types of devices used in the US. Examples of devices 

that would have to bear a UDI are implants and multi-use 

surgical instruments. 

A final rule isn’t expected until June. But if implemented, 

the rule could mean much more business for medical device 

makers, even if it means $132–$176 million a year in extra 

costs for the domestic and foreign medical device industry. 

The rule is designed to help improve device safety and the 

reporting of device-related adverse events. 

“It will improve how tools and devices are used and help 

define the life cycle of a device,” said Alex Boffi, key account 

manager for Technifor, a GravoTech Inc. company (Duluth, 

GA). His company offers a wide range of laser and other solutions 

for medical application UDI marking compliance. “At the 

end of the day, it comes down to safety.” 

66 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | May 2013


Prima Power Laserdyne LLC reduced the price of its 

Laserdyne 430 by making the work envelope’s size more 

compatible with medical device applications. 

But even as the FDA creates additional costs for medical 

device manufacturers, insurance companies and the Centers 

for Medicare & Medicaid Services—who pay for their products, 

which are often cut with lasers—are forcing them to do 

more with less. 

“Produce more in less time for a lower cost per part” is 

what customers want from lasers and laser systems from 

Trumpf Inc. (Farmington, CT), said Sascha Weiler, microprocessing 

product manager. 

Geoff Shannon, laser technology manager at Miyachi 

Unitek Corporation (Los Angeles), agrees. He’s noticed a big 

cost-reduction drive among manufacturers who now operate 

smarter and leaner, compared with 10–15 years ago when 

money was no object. 



Prima Power Laserdyne LLC’s BeamDirector, a rotary and tilt axes 

laser beam positioning device, gives the Laserdyne 430 full 3D 

cutting capability. 

tricky part is how to use this power, and merge it 

with the capabilities of motion control.” 

That’s where Aerotech Inc. (Pittsburgh) 

comes in. Aerotech manufactures extremely 

precise motion control systems for laser processing 

and micromachining. 

“Capabilities 10 years ago were normally 

limited to micron-level resolutions and accuracies,” 

said Scott Schmidt, laser processing 

and micromachining group manager. “Today 

we already offer standard products that function 

in the nanometer range, and we fully 

expect that 10 years from now many standard 

systems will be capable of picometer resolutions 

and accuracies.” 

Part of operating smarter may mean making more powerful 

lasers. “We are always working on increasing the laser’s 

power,” said Weiler, “but still maintaining high efficiency. The 

Making Their Mark 

G.T. Schmidt Marking Systems (Niles, IL) has several 

marking product lines, but since the turn of the century lasers 

have taken over. 

“We do see lasers as truly the future for GTS,” said Dave 

Noonan, product manager. Growth in Schmidt’s laser marking 

sales grew by about 50% in 2011 and 40% in 2012. 

Not only are lasers the future for Schmidt, the company 

will likely expand into systems for cutting and ablating as well 

as for marking, Noonan said. 

Schmidt’s laser systems include the scanning head, software 

and programmable controller in addition to the laser itself. 

Medical device makers use the system to add their corporate 

identifying names and logos, as well as serial numbers and 2D 

matrices to artificial joints, pacemakers and their nerve-stimulating 

cousins, catheters, tubing, and surgical tools. 

“About anything steel or plastic that needs to be marked, 

our lasers are marking,” said Noonan, whose customer base 

is mainly in the United States and Canada, with a few clients 

in South America, Europe, China and India. “Most of our 

customers are opting for the fiber laser these days due to its 

price and durability. The sources are rock solid and the design 

is well proven. 

“I think durability speaks for itself by simply looking at 

the expected life of the lasers,” Noonan said. “The fiber laser 

sources are projected to have a 100,000-hour life cycle while 

the diode laser sources are rated for 30,000 hours.” 

Fiber lasers are also becoming more powerful, up to 70 

W, and are more environmentally friendly because they’re air- 


cooled vs. water-cooled like CO 2 or YAG lasers. But they also 

have another distinctive advantage. 

“The nice thing about a fiber laser is that it’s compact,” said 

Bob Henry, product manager for Epilog Laser, (Golden, CO). 

It’s not uncommon for visitors at 

medical device trade shows to approach 

Epilog’s booth and hand over a bag of 

jangling metal parts to mark, said Henry. 

“We love the challenge when people 

bring us materials,” said Henry. “We 

haven’t seen a metal yet that we can’t 

get a good mark on. 

“The trick is to get a nice, thick 

oxide layer that can stand up to passivation 

[a cleaning process] and 

autoclaving,” said Henry. 

software, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator, Corel- 

DRAW or BarTender, control the system. 

“With our approach, you can use so many different approaches 

for printing,” said Henry. 

We are always working on 

increasing the laser’s power, 

but still maintaining 

high efficiency. 

Epilog’s latest products include 

the Fusion FiberMark Laser System. 

The FiberMark’s work area, at 640 

in. 2 (4129 cm 2 ), is more than double 

that of its predecessor, which has a 

288-in. 2 (1858-cm 2 ) work area. It also 

features bigger motors, an enhanced 

motion control system, a central 

processing unit on the laser motors, an 

all-new bearing assembly and steelreinforced 

belts, and bidirectional 

communication between the computer 

and laser. The two-way communications, 

along with the operator’s ability 

to pause the system’s operations, 

make it handy for prototyping. 

Another handy feature for job shops is 

the Epilog systems’ time estimator, which 

is activated after an image is uploaded to 

its programmable logic controller. 

Epilog’s open-source software, along 

with off-the-shelf writing or graphics 

May 2013 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 71


Device manufacturers intent on cutting production costs 

not only want options, they want the process to be fast as well. 

Technifor’s TC 500 35-W CO 2 laser is fast enough to keep 

up with production of plastic-molded parts, said Boffi. Just out 

this year, the TC 500 is galvonometric-steered vs. gantry-based, 

easy to integrate, cost-competitive and extremely powerful. As a 

result, it offers a low cycle time and increases throughput. 

“We anticipate it’s going to be popular in the food and 

beverage industry, automotive, and for medical devices,” said 

key account manager Boffi. 

Also innovating to increase speed is Miyachi Unitek. 

“To make the commonly required dark, or so-called annealed 

mark, on stainless steel faster is a challenge, as it’s 

very easy to overheat the part,” said Shannon. “However, 

using the correct laser technology, this is possible, resulting in 

significant throughput gains.” 

Shannon said his firm’s new LMF 3500-HP laser marker 

cuts this type of marking time by up to half, compared with its 

previous technology. 

The trick is to get a nice, thick oxide 

layer that can stand up to passivation 

(a cleaning process) and autoclaving. 

Cutting Into the Business 

Faster marking is not the only innovation Miyachi Unitek 

has to offer. The company’s as-yet unnamed tooling option 

for its Sigma Tube Cutter can cut features in small-diameter 

nitinol tubing for neurovascular applications. Not only will the 

new technology cut tubing as small as 254 μm in diameter, it 

will immerse the part in an ultrasound bath that eliminates the 

need for electro-polish finishing. 

“If you can provide a cutting process that produces 

minimal need for postprocessing you can shave time off the 



manufacturing process and save money,” said Shannon. “We 

think we’ve come up with a nice, elegant solution.” 

For this particular application the Miyachi Unitek technology—with 

an estimated cost of $20,000–$25,000—can 

be used with a system that includes a $40,000 fiber laser 

to make acceptable cuts. Previously the process required a 

$250,000 ultra-fast laser, Shannon said. 

To make the commonly required dark, or 

so-called annealed mark, on stainless steel 

faster is a challenge, as it’s very easy to 

overheat the part. 

Joining Miyachi Unitek with new technology is Trumpf, 

with the second generation of its TruMicro Series, which was 

first offered in 2008. The TruMicro Series 5000 uses a hybrid 

design for laser-cutting metals and polymers. A fiber laser is 

amplified by a disk laser and uses six pico-second pulses for 

cutting polymer stents and other materials that are sensitive 

and react to heat affect. 

Also offering revamped technology—and making it price 

competitive in the medical device market—is Prima Power 

Laserdyne LLC (Champlin, MN). Prima started selling its 

Laserdyne 430 just this year, but it’s based on laser system 

designs initially created 20 years ago and used since then 

primarily in the aerospace industry. 

Prima reduced the Laserdyne 430’s price by modifying its 

design: For example, the work area has been reduced to a 

cube that measures 23 × 16 × 20" (584 × 406 × 508 mm), 

a work envelope compatible with the size of medical device 

components to be laser processed. The cost of the control 

system has decreased as, for example, industrial computers 

have become less expensive, explains Terry VanderWert, 

company president. 

Also multi-generational is the system’s BeamDirector, a 

rotary and tilt axes laser beam positioning device that gives 

the 430 full 3D cutting capability. 

“It’s the cleanest head on the market today, without 

external cables and hoses that can interfere with parts being 

laser processed,” said VanderWert, who sees great potential 

for using the Laserdyne 430 to make orthopedic implants and 

process-formed and tube-based medical instruments. 

He also points out that his new technology can be used 

for laser drilling and welding as well as cutting, and promises 

quick company responses to users’ changing needs for the 

430’s operating program as the marketplace evolves. 

Essential to many cutting jobs is motion control that controls 

chattering, and that’s exactly what Aerotech focuses on 

with its VascuLathe Stent Manufacturing System and its Toric 

Lens Generator. 

“Potential users of the VascuLathe get the benefits of better 

quality stents, produced more quickly, with easier and quicker 

system start-up,” said Scott Schmidt, laser processing and 

micromachining group manager. He promises a two- to five-fold 

increase in vascular and neural stent throughput with VascuLathe. 

That’s because Aerotech, Schmidt explains, integrates 

VascuLathe’s linear-rotary system with material handling and 

wet-cutting capability. 

“Aerotech’s direct-drive and advanced control architecture 

also means better quality output,” Schmidt said. 

The Toric Lens Generator is designed specifically to create 

toric lens profiles (that correct for astigmatism as well as near 

and farsightedness) to manufacture contact lenses and intraocular 

(implantable) lenses. 

“By limiting the application scope of the product, the TLG 

provides a smaller, less costly solution than competitive products,” 

Schmidt said. ME 

Want More Information 

Aerotech Inc. 

Ph: 412-963-7470 

Web site: www.aerotech.com/ 

Epilog Laser 

Ph: 303-277-1188 

Web site: www.epiloglaser.com/ 

G.T. Schmidt Marking Systems 

Ph: 800-323-1332 

Web site: www.gtschmidt.com 

Miyachi Unitek Corp. 

Ph: 626-303-5676 

Web site: www.miyachiunitek.com 

Prima Power Laserdyne LLC 

Ph: 763-433-3700 

Web site: www.prima-na.com 

Technifor Inc. 

Ph: 704-525-5230 

Web site: www.technifor.us 

Trumpf Inc. 

Ph: 860-255-6000 

Web site: www.us.trumpf.com

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