Conquering The Big And Small Challenges Of Micro-Manufacturing

By Raghu Vadlamudi, Chief Research and Technology Director, Donatelle

Meeting the extremely tight tolerances of micro-sized components and features for critical medical devices requires absolute precision. It also requires having the experience to know what you don’t know, so you can confidently try new approaches to meet the highly technical needs of creating parts that generally weigh less than one-tenth of a milligram and are 10 times smaller than a grain of table salt. That’s because, as far as advanced micro-manufacturing technology has come, it still has ways to go.

For manufacturers interested in taking advantage of this evolving technology, a series of challenges must be overcome end to end and an integrated process must be implemented to consistently and repeatedly design, develop and produce micro-sized parts. Several key considerations for meeting these needs follow.