A vision for the future

Cook Medical Australia is the only manufactuer producing custom-made grafts for treating abdominal aortic aneurysms.

After starting in 1979, with aims to manufacture and distribute medical products for customers in markets around the Pacific Rim and South East Asia, Cook Medical’s original mission was to focus on angiographic and other interventional devices. In 1980, Cook Medical Australia were engaged by pioneering fertility researchers in Melbourne and Sydney to create its first invitro-fertilisation (IVF) product. In fact Candice Reed, Australia’s first IVF baby, was born later that year under the Monash team’s care. Cook Medical Australia is now at the forefront of the development of technology needed to perform invitro-fertilisation and assisted reproduction procedures. Even today, according to the HiTech Times, Cook Medical Australia is the only manufacturing site in the world that produces custom made stent grafts for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Recently, Cook Medical undertook a project to improve processing efficiency, accuracy and repeatability and to ensure raw material components continued to meet the requirements for the finished medical devices. Their goal was to automate the process for measurement of raw material and in-process components. Without a new method, components would continue to be measured and checked by hand (using rulers, micrometers and Vernier calipers). Manual measurements were proving to be slow, prone to human error and consume human resources that could be better used elsewhere in the company.

To realise these goals, Cook Medical’s Will Williams contacting various vision system suppliers, however it soon became obvious that HiTech Metrology was proactive in responding, staying in contact throughout the presale process. A practical and instructive demonstration was organised in Brisbane, which Williams stated gave the entire Inward Goods team an intimate insight into the function and capabilities of the Micro-Vu Vertex Vision system. The team was able to ask all kinds of pertinent questions while some of their very own product was undergoing measurement. This interactive process provided a lot of clarity around the possibilities around their manufacturing environment. Pretty soon after, Williams was able to generate a shortlist of advantages to moving forward with the adoption of the Micro-Vu Vertex 312 unit, part of the Vertex Vision System. Since commissioning the system at Cook Medical, Will Williams has reported the measuring efficiency has dramatically improved as well as the ability to monitor tolerances and to understand each project’s process capability over a given time. Cook Medical are achieving better accuracy and reliability in determining the compliance or non-compliance of incoming goods. Will stated a reduction in time for testing means the production department will receive components more quickly and expeditiously. This gives related departments and processes more flexibility, as the lead time between receiving the components and having them tested by incoming QC will be greatly reduced resulting in increased production efficiency. An overall reduction of the cost of goods will be realised with the time savings made for the production process. “This technology offers extremely simplified processing of components,” says Williams. “Users can just choose a program and press the ‘go’ button rather than following manual instructions. It’s enabled the complex to become simpler!” cookmedical.com.au hitechmetrology.com.au