Process:

There is quite a bit that goes into designing a case and tray system, including the caddies. If you have read this far, and explored my portfolio, you will notice that the caddy and the trays link to the same article. This is because the skillset required for a caddy is quite different than what is required for a tray. I will first discuss what is required for caddies.

For a caddy to be made, usually these caddies are made out of a single block of plastic, which is then machined down in a CNC machine. These caddies must contain a certain number of holes which will allow for proper sterilization of holes. The caddies are designed to form-fit any instruments and implants that will be used in a surgery. To ensure form fit, tolerance stack-ups are performed to ensure an appropriate fit. Once the fit is determined, a lid is made usually out of a clear radel material. Once all of this is done, the outside of the caddy is machined to reduce weight. Sometimes, however, these caddies are not made of plastic. When this happens, sometimes the customer prefers to have a fairly heavy caddy (up to 12 lbs). In this situation, there is no weight reduction.

For a tray to be made, it is a bit of a different process. We are usually sent models of the medical instruments that need to be appropriately contained. When we receive the models, we tend to design brackets that go into the base of the tray. These then hold up any instruments as close as possible to the top of the case or tray. We then have to ensure that the parts aren’t too heavy, as these can bend some of the brackets. After this, we determine the appropriate thickness of material for the brackets, and if they are going to go to outside production to be nylon coated. Afterwards, we usually pick a pre-fabricated wrapper (made in house), but sometimes we actually make a new wrapper for production. Generally we like to avoid using a new wrapper as this requires quite a bit of new programming and processing. A large issue that we have is that in the medical industry, whenever you want to change something, it requires an intense amount of paperwork. After we discuss with the customers, and approve the designs, we send the design to the programming engineers. They program any of the designs that we approved into the CNC machines, bend machines, and assembly processes. Once this is complete, usually I like to go to the manufacturing floor to ensure the design is going through appropriately. Depending on the volume, then the fully assembled part is shipped all over the world. We have a lot of customers specifically in Europe, however that is only a portion of the market.