MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
HiTek Fabrication
By DEBORAH CONN
Filling Their Needs Clinicians launched fabrication firm to access components quickly and cost-effectively
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HAWN BRIGHT, CO, and
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Lower-limb orthoses are among the products manufactured at HiTek Fabrication.
work best with repetitive tasks. We developed an algorithm so these robots can handle unique items,” he explains. The result is OWNERS: that clinicians receive something Shawn Bright, CO, consistent. “They can specify and Tracy Ell, CP trim lines and they will be exactly that, every time. You don’t have to rely on a tech knowing that a LOCATION: St. Peters, Missouri clinician likes it a certain way,” he says. “The machines do it the same way, every time.” HISTORY: According to Bright, other Three years companies have dabbled in similar technologies, but none have implemented a process that is faster than a human doing it. “That’s been the sticking point,” he says. “But we have been able to develop robots that can do it more quickly than a human.” HiTek also has its own CNC milling machines, which carve metal and other materials to produce items for prosthetic components. “If we use it in the O&P field, these machines can produce it,” says Bright. The company manufactures industry-standard and proprietary devices, including Prosthetic liner cover lower-extremity orthoses, spinal bracing, pediatric pronation/ supination braces, pediatric
COMPANY: HiTek Fabrication
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | O&P ALMANAC
Deborah Conn is a contributing writer to O&P Almanac. Reach her at deborahconn@verizon.net.
PHOTOS: HiTek Fabrication
Tracy Ell, CP, founded HiTek Limb and Brace, an O&P patientcare facility in Columbia, Missouri, in 2000. Several years ago, the clinicians sought out a company to manufacture a part they needed, but the companies were all too busy, recalls Bright. “One of my friends was a machinist, and we started talking about making our own parts, which led us to create a central fabrication lab,” he says. “At first, we only made parts for our own clinics, but word spread and other practitioners started sending us work.” Bright and Ell launched HiTek Fabrication in 2018 in St. Peters, Missouri, and they continue to serve both their own clinics and those of O&P professionals worldwide. The company, which has grown to 25 employees, has never formally marketed its services, relying The HiTek HOPS System solely on word is used to make custom of mouth, prosthetic liners. says Bright. The owners are committed to finding the most cost-effective methods of producing highquality products, and for HiTek, automation is key. “We’re creating devices that are custom molded and not scaled, using robots to make the process more efficient by carving the foam, trimming the brace, buffing it, and drilling holes for straps,” says Bright. “Robots don’t like it when the process is unique for each item—they
subtalar-control foot orthoses, and a full range of upper- and lowerextremity prosthetic devices. The company developed a system, patent-pending, that allows practitioners to produce foam blanks in house, a process that can save up to 80 percent on foam, says Bright. “HiTek Limb and Brace was paying $220,000 a year for foam, and now we are paying $33,000,” he notes. The patent-pending HiTek HOPS system allows practitioners to create just-in-time foam blanks, saving on inventory and storage space and avoiding steep shipping costs from foam blank manufacturers. The system is modular, allowing facilities to start small and add new molds as needed. “The tech uses a computerized gun, which fills the metal mold with the exact amount of foam required,” he explains. “After the foam expands and hardens, the tech removes it from the mold and it’s ready for carving.” HiTek’s prosthetic liner system is another cost-saving innovation; it allows clinicians to pour liner molds in the office. “So a liner you might buy for up to $250, you can pour in the office for $50 or less,” Bright says. “This is a modular system, too, so customers can choose the appropriate-size mold.” Bright’s overarching goal is to help O&P return its focus to service rather than products. “When we bill for a device, it includes both the product and the service. The issue is that the products are starting to exceed the reimbursement, so we are not getting paid for any of our service,” he says. “Our intention is to reduce the product cost so that we can focus on the excellent service our patients need.”
