2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000

12/14/01 - Mark Machine announces the relocation of all manufacturing and administrative functions to its new, 26,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Fairfield, New Jersey.

11/30/01 - Powder Alloy Corporation (PAC) has joined forces with Leis Partners LLC. Leis Partners will market and sell all of the PAC medical powders worldwide. These products include both Titanium and Spherical Cobalt powders designed and used for the porous coating of implants and injection molding for the Orthopedic Industry.

10/24/01 - Spire Biomedical received a $750,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health to further development of an improved coating for prosthetic implants. Phase I of the study demonstrated the feasibility of using a multi-layer, metalloceramic film structure; Phase II will focus on optimization of multi-layer coatings, especially for hip implants.

10/01/01 - Inframat® Corporation has developed a nanostructured hydroxyapatite (n-HA) coating that improves adhesion to titanium implants and provides long-term viability in human body fluid. Inframat® seeks partners to develop n-HA coated implant devices and conduct animal studies through an NIH SBIR Phase II grant. Interested parties please contact Tony Z. Zhang, Ph.D., Materials Scientist.

10/01/01 - Beere Precision Medical Instruments has another growth year, its seventh consecutive. BPMII sales were $10.4mm, 31.1% higher than the fiscal year of 2000, with an average growth of 50.5% since its inception in 1993.

09/14/01 - FDA announced a voluntary recall of unimplanted inventory from nine lots of zirconia ceramic femoral heads (See OrthoKnow®, August issue).

08/23/01 - Symmetry Medical and V. Mueller® signed an agreement through which Symmetry will exclusively distribute certain V. Mueller surgical instruments and Genesis® sterilization containers to OEM customers in the U.S., while V. Mueller will sell and distribute Symmetry's PolyVac® plastic tray line and Othy® off-the-shelf specialty products to hospitals, surgery centers and physician offices.

08/21/01 - A.F. Leis, Carr Metal, NG Instruments, Brighton Partners and Medical Device Testing and Innovation have joined to become Leis Partners LLC, a medical technologies supplier. The partnered yet independent and diverse companies intend to produce, warehouse and distribute complete sets for medical companies, as well as provide device testing and consulting.

08/03/01 - Stealth Engineering & Technologies acquired Hy-Vac Medical Technologies, creating Stealth Medical Technologies, LLC. The company intends to provide both forging and sintered titanium and cobalt chromium coating capabilities to orthopaedic implant manufacturers.

08/01/01 - Ortho-Craft announces that it has become a fully compliant and registered ISO9002 manufacturing facility.

07/30/01 - Symmetry Medical announces that it will open a 30,000 square foot facility in Warsaw, Indiana, where it will begin state of the art manufacture of metal cases and trays under the PolyVac® tradename.

07/24/01 - A.F. Leis breaks ground on state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Vandalia, Ohio.

07/16/01 - Royal Bank Private Equity acquired DONCASTERS plc for $260.7MM. The new company will keep the DONCASTERS name and supply materials, components and a range of manufacturing capabilities to original equipment manufacturers worldwide.

06/29/01 - On June 12, 2001, the quality system of Unique Instruments was officially registered to the ISO 9002:1994 quality standard. Unique Instruments, Inc. is a contract manufacturer of surgical cutting accessories and components for the medical industry.

06/18/01 - A cost-effective precision forging process developed by Tecomet and used in the first oxidized zirconium knee femoral components introduced by Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics may potentially extend the life of knee implants. Tecomet is also developing a new texturing process for titanium, zirconium and cobalt chrome. (Tecomet, a Subsidiary of VIASYS Healthcare, 06/18/01)

06/04/01 - Tolas Health Care Packaging [pdf file] announces the introduction of a new, high-barrier, radiation-sterilizable pouch designed specifically to increase package integrity (and thus, product sterility) in the packaging of high profile medical devices and components such as joint replacement implants and other heavy or dense orthopedic devices with sharp profiles that require puncture and tear-resistant packaging. (Tolas Health Care Packaging, 06/04/01)

03/29/01 - Allegheny Technologies announced a new U.S. Patent for Cobalt-Chromium-Molybdenum alloys designed to improve long-term wear of articulating implants such as artificial hips and knees. A new alloy under the patent, Allvac®TJA-1537™ alloy, is the result of a research and development effort at Allvac in cooperation with the University of North Carolina, Charlotte and an orthopedic surgeon. (Allegheny Technologies, 03/29/01)

03/16/01 - Precimed SA has opened Precimed Japan in Tokyo, and announced new patented or patent-pending surgical products including the EZ Clean Reamer Handle, among others. (Precimed SA, 03/16/01)

03/16/01 - This summer, A. F. Leis will begin construction of a new manufacturing facility in Vandalia, Ohio. On 10 acres, the 67,000 sq. ft. facility will enable Leis to continue its pattern of growth and expansion. Completion is scheduled for mid-2002. (A.F. Leis Co., Inc. 03/16/01)

03/06/01 - Expansion of its orthopaedic instrument manufacturing facility doubles PAK Manufacturing's production capacity. Furthermore, the additional space should allow PAK to continue to post double-digit revenue and earnings growth, without sacrifice to lead time projections and on-time delivery for its custom and specialty forged instruments for spinal and orthopaedic applications. (PAK Manufacturing, Inc. 03/06/01.)

02/05/01 - Beere Precision Medical Instruments has been awarded patent number 6,179,302 B1 for its Locking Adapter.

01/17/01 - Due to a number of changes in its internal processes, Friedrich Daniels, a custom orthopaedic surgical instrument manufacturer, has increased production by 20% and reduced overall lead times to 5-6 weeks or less, within a one-month span. The company also turns around prototypes in 2 weeks or less. (Friedrich Daniels, 01/17/01.)