Medical Bone Screws Produced 60% Faster with $133k in Savings

A large medical device manufacturer was facing long cycle times-8 minutes per cycle. Creating the precision T20 hexalobe torx medical bone screw is no small task, and the customer's previous end mill from a competitor was not up for the job. The customer had to purchase 4,174 end mills annually, as each tool could only produce 100 parts. They were paying $125/hour tool change burden rate, totaling $169,963 in cycle time cost. The customer was eager to find a more efficient solution.

"At GWS, we pride ourselves on offering custom solutions as our standard approach," said a company spokesperson. "For this customer, the perfect cutting tool solution was one of our standard products."

In order to create this complex medical bone screw while meeting the customer's goal of reduced cycle time, GWS recommended its Series 2150 4-flute solid carbide micro end mill with FX7 coating. With this new end mill, the customer was able to produce 1,600 parts per end mill. Not only was the tool life increased significantly, but also overall part cycle was reduced by 6 minutes to just 2 minutes per cycle-a 60% decrease.

Previous process results:

• 2-flute micro end mill
• 8-minute cycle time
• 100 parts per end mill
• 4,174 end mills per year
• $169,963 in annual cycle time costs.

GWS Tool Group solution:

• Series 2150 4-flute solid carbide micro end mill with FX7 coating
• 2-minute cycle time
• 60% cycle time reduction
• 1,600 parts per end mill
• $36,495 in annual cycle time cost
• Total cycle cost savings of $133,468.

For more information contact:

GWS Tool Group

595 County Road 448

Tavares, FL 32778

877-497-8665

sales@gwstoolgroup.com

www.gwstoolgroup.com