Case Study: Multinational Medical Company achieves mirror‑finish knee implants (Ra <0.05 µm) and scalable production efficiency with Proto3000

Knee Implants & Femoral Components For Orthopedic Implant Industries

Multinational Medical Company, a global manufacturer of orthopedic implants, faced high scrap and rework rates, lengthy multi-step manual polishing, and environmental costs from wastewater while trying to achieve a mirror finish and Ra ≤ 0.05 µm on cobalt-chrome femoral components. To meet throughput and biocompatibility targets, the customer engaged Proto3000 and its DryLyte/DLyte PRO500 polishing solution to replace nutshell polishing and manual buffing and to deliver a reliable, repeatable surface-finishing process.

Proto3000 implemented the DLyte PRO500 using dry suspension media and a 60‑minute cycle to process 24 knee implants per batch, reducing average Ra from ~0.2 µm to as low as 0.011 µm, removing ~0.5 g per piece. The system enables 168 parts/day (42,000/year), treats ~10,000 implants per media charge, and delivers OPEX of €3 and CAPEX of ~€2 per part (5‑year basis), while cutting overall production costs by over 60%, improving corrosion resistance and biocompatibility, and eliminating wastewater/sludge and several manual finishing steps.