Rafal Zawadzki, Water Jet Sweden’s manager in Poland (left) with Andrzej Łuczaj Technical Director at ChM Sp. z o.o. (right).

Medical implants are a growing sector within the healthcare industry improving quality of life for millions of people every year. ChM sp. z o.o. from Poland has been providing solutions for treatment of human locomotor systems for over 40 years and now they have doubled their production capacity with the installation of a second Water Jet Sweden waterjet cutting machine.

ChM Sp. z o.o. located in the north-eastern part of Poland, designs, produces and distributes solutions for traumatology and orthopaedics in co-operation with medical professionals all over the world. More than 60% of production is exported, distributed to 50 countries in 5 continents and 20% of the annual turnover is spent on R&D. Focus on product innovation and patient safety is key to their success.

ChM has been using waterjet technology to cut elements for their traumatology andorthopaedic products for many years, purchasing their first machine from Water Jet Sweden in 2010. The high precision of waterjet cutting, smooth cutting surface and absence of thermal impact on the material are of great benefit to the final quality of their implant products

However, waterjet cutting had become a bottleneck in production so ChM needed to double the production capacity with the installation of an additional machine. ChM wanted to take this opportunity to bring in new, modern cutting technology so the new machine was equipped with an extra micro cutting tool for extra high precision.

"The new machine has two cutting heads," says Rafal Zawadzki, Water Jet Sweden Manager in Poland. "One head for traditional abrasive waterjet cutting and a Micro head for fine abrasive cutting. Now ChM can produce small, specific implants with 0.3 mm cuts as standard. The micro head both saves materials and improves cutting precision," Rafal continues.

Being an industry leader is not only about technology, it's also about people and resources.

ChM believe that close co-operation of engineers and production workers, located in one place, results in the highest quality of implants and medical instruments, therefore the investment also included improvements in efficiency and safety. The old waterjet cutting workstation was equipped with modern safety systems according to the latest EU standards, as a uniform solution for both machines, and the new KMT high pressure pump and WJS Online Abrasive Feeding system serve both machines in parallel to share and optimise important resources.

"With the Block-and-bleed function you can load one machine while the other machine continues cutting. The workstations are served parallel but operated separately," explains Rafal.

Since production is running three shifts around the clock, installation downtime was planned carefully to keep it to a minimum. First, the old machine was moved to alternative premises to enable production to continue. At the same time, the machine stations were prepared and the new machine was installed and tested. The old machine was then moved back and integrated into the new parallel workstation, ready for production with doubled capacity, around the clock.

"Professional support from Water Jet Sweden during several years of using the first machine made the choice of a second machine natural and obvious," says Mr. Andrzej Łuczaj, Technical Director at ChM Sp. z o.o. "We have developed a solution to integrate both pumps, ensuring diversification in the event of a failure of one of them and the option of a new micro head has expanded our technological capabilities. Achieving the set goal of a very short production downtime is very important and critical for a manufacturer of medical devices for traumatology," Andrzej explains.

"It took 1.5 days to complete the whole installation, which is half a day faster than first estimated, so we are happy with the installation process," tells Rafal. "There are always small issues to solve, but our technicians are experienced and well prepared."

Still growing, ChM vision is to become a leader in creating and providing solutions for treatment of human locomotor system and to be a respected partner for surgeons in restoring patient’s health. Water Jet Sweden is happy to support that ambition.

Block and bleed function for separated machine operations

WJS Online Abrasive Feeding system for non-stop abrasive supply to both machines. 

The new KMT SL-VI 50 Plus ultra-high-pressure pump is shared by the two machines. 

Old and new machine encapsuled in the same safety system

The new machine is equipped with two cutting heads. Left the cutting head for traditional abrasive cutting and the Micro head for fine abrasive cutting to the right. 

New waterjet cutting stations with doubled capacity, high safety, Micro cutting ability and shared systems for high pressure pump and supply of abrasives

Example of implants from ChM sp. z o.o.

Parts cut with the Micro head and fine abrasive cutting