Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : 3D Printing in Orthopedics

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

3D Printing in Orthopedics: Why Are We Still Pretending the Future Isn’t Here?

A week ago, I visited Swiss M4M, a true center of excellence for 3D printing in MedTech. And let me say it bluntly:

I walked out inspired — and shocked.

Inspired by what is possible.

Shocked by how far behind our industry still is, by choice!

I remember the 2012 hype:

“Hospitals will have 3D printers.”

“Implants will be printed on demand.”

“This will transform everything.”

Thirteen years later, do you know what has transformed?

Almost nothing.

Other industries—Aerospace. Automotive. Formula 1.—are pushing boundaries with additive manufacturing.

And orthopedics?

We are still polishing stainless steel like it’s 1995, an mill implants from large seize material blocks!

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

The technology works. The capabilities exist.

What’s missing is courage.

Courage to redesign implants instead of recycling old geometries.

Courage to rethink instruments instead of machining blocks of metal.

Courage to challenge teams who say, “We’ve always done it this way.”

During my visit, I saw patient-specific solutions, titanium structures, integrated functionalities—and all at a level of maturity we should have embraced years ago. And guess who is pushing the limits?

Not the big players.

Not the ones with the multi-billion-dollar budgets.

It’s the small companies.

The hungry ones.

The ones who can’t afford inefficiency.

The paradox is almost embarrassing:

Big MedTech talks innovation, publishes innovation, markets innovation…

but often refuses to implement innovation, because the risks to timelines are to high.

And before anyone claims surgeons won’t accept 3D-printed implants—

I actually asked them.

They don’t care.

If it works, they use it. End of story.

Meanwhile, our old manufacturing model forces us to maintain SKUs where:

20% drive revenue, and 80% fill warehouses.

This is absurd in 2025.

3D printing was practically created to solve this low/ no volume problem.

So, let’s stop pretending.

Let’s stop hiding behind excuses like “risk,” “timeline,” or “validation workload.”

If aerospace engineers can trust 3D-printed structural parts at 30,000 feet,

we can trust a printed plate or instrument in an operating room.

My message to senior leaders:

Either you push your organization to adopt this technology — or someone smaller, faster, and braver will eat your lunch.

Additive manufacturing is no longer “the future.”

It is the present.

And our industry is running out of reasons not to use it.

source : Urs Wigger

#Orthopedics #3DPrinting #AdditiveManufacturing #healthcare

Westlake to Rationalize Certain North American Chlorovinyl and Styrene Assets

#WestlakeCorporation announced today that the Company has approved a plan to cease operation of certain of the Company’s North American chlorovinyl production facilities, including:

its polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) plant at the Aberdeen, Mississippi site, which has an annual capacity of approximately 1 billion pounds of suspension PVC resin;

its vinyl chloride monomer (“VCM”) plant at the Lake Charles, Louisiana North site, which has an annual capacity of approximately 910 million pounds of VCM; and

one of its diaphragm chlor-alkali units at the Lake Charles, Louisiana South site, which has an annual capacity of approximately 825 million pounds of chlorine and 910 million pounds of caustic soda.

The Company plans to continue supplying customers with #PVC, #VCM and #chlor-alkali products from its seven other North American chlorovinyl facilities.

Following the closures, the Company expects to have aggregate annual production capacity of approximately

(i) 5,520 million pounds of suspension PVC globally, including 4,900 million pounds in North America,

(ii) 7,630 million pounds of VCM globally, including 6,050 million pounds in North America, and

(iii) 6,680 million pounds of chlorine and 7,510 million pounds of caustic soda globally, including 5,410 million pounds of chlorine and 6,100 million pounds of caustic soda in North America.

The Company also approved a plan to cease operation of its styrene production plant located at the Lake Charles, Louisiana site, which has an annual production capacity of approximately 570 million pounds of styrene.

Cessation of operations at the affected facilities is expected to take place in December 2025. The closures of the facilities are expected to result in a workforce reduction of approximately 295 employees. The Company expects it will incur total pre-tax costs of approximately $415 million related to the closures of the facilities consisting of noncash accelerated depreciation, amortization, and asset write-off charges of approximately $357 million, employee severance and separation costs of approximately $25 million, and other plant shut down costs of approximately $33 million.

“Given the persistent, challenging market conditions facing the global commodities chemicals industry, as part of our evaluation of business operations, we have made the difficult decision to cease operation of three units within our North American Chlorovinyls business and cease operations of our Styrene manufacturing unit, located in Lake Charles, Louisiana. We will continue to supply our chlorovinyl customers with products produced at our other North American Chlorovinyls manufacturing facilities,” said Westlake President and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Gilson.

source: Westlake Corporation

Turning diaper waste into new value: BASF, Essity and TU Wien pioneer circular solutions

BASF, one of the world’s leading chemical companies and manufacturer of #superabsorbentpolymers (SAP), and Essity, a global leading hygiene and health company, joined forces together with the Technical University of Wien to revolutionize #recycling of #absorbenthygieneproducts (AHP).

The groundbreaking gasification pilot project proves that used diapers and other absorbent hygiene products can be transformed into valuable raw materials for new chemical products – no complex pre-treatment required. The resulting gas mixture contains carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be used as feedstock in chemical production, keeping carbon in the loop.

BASF and #TUWien’s innovative gasification technology enabled this result. Gasification is a process that converts solids like waste into gas at high temperatures above 600 °C. Thanks to this process, diaper waste is sanitized and converted into high-quality feedstock, matching the standards of virgin resources.

This breakthrough not only tackles a major waste stream but also unlocks possibilities for circularity in the chemical and #hygiene sectors. This scalable solution has the potential to reshape municipal waste management, helps our customers achieve ambitious sustainability goals and offers a solution to #diaperwaste.

BASF’s unique production network enables the use of recycled feedstocks, offering customers products that are both sustainable and high-performing.

“Our customers can rely on #BASF as their trusted partner for innovative recycling solutions. We demonstrated the potential of recycling post-consumer absorbent hygiene products. BASF is committed to turning challenges into opportunities and leading the way towards a more sustainable future—together with our customers,” says Oliver Cullmann, Vice President Global Marketing & Strategy C3 Value Chain.

source : BASF

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Why It Took China Six Years to Ban Rare Earth Exports

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Why It Took China Six Years to Ban Rare Earth Exports

When Donald Trump launched the trade war in 2018, his primary objective was to stall China’s technological rise. At that time, China already held a near-monopoly over the mining, refining, and processing of rare earth elements — the critical raw materials behind semiconductors, EVs, and advanced weapons systems.

Yet China’s first retaliation wasn’t to weaponize rare earths. Instead, it canceled soybean purchases from the United States — a move aimed directly at the American heartland, targeting Trump’s voter base and exposing U.S. agricultural dependence on Chinese demand.

So, why did China wait until 2024 to restrict and 2025 to ban rare earth exports?

The answer lies in a single element: Helium.

Helium — The Grandmother of All Sanctions

If rare earth is the mother of all sanctions, then helium is its grandmother.

Since 1917, the United States has maintained complete dominance over helium technology and production. During the 20th century, only ten companies worldwide produced helium — four were American, and the rest operated under U.S.-licensed technology.

By 1925, helium was declared a national security material, subject to strict export control. The reason? Helium is essential in nuclear research, semiconductor fabrication, missile guidance systems, and any industrial process requiring an inert, non-reactive environment.

By 1960, a U.S. federal law mandated that all domestically produced helium could only be sold to the U.S. government, which would then decide case-by-case which countries — if any — could import it.

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China’s Early Struggles with Helium:

Before 2023, the U.S. held the world’s largest helium stockpile, while China had less than 0.1% of global reserves. Worse, China lacked even the proper infrastructure for helium storage.

When the Sino-Soviet split occurred in 1958, China was abruptly cut off from its only helium source. To sustain its nascent space program, China began researching helium production independently.

By 1960, two years after the split, China built its first helium research facility in Sichuan. It took eleven more years for Chinese scientists to master the complete process of helium extraction and purification — entirely free of American technology.

By the early 1970s, China could produce only 3,000 cubic meters of helium annually — a tiny fraction of the 20 million cubic meters it needed. But, as history often shows, every revolution starts small.

Helium: The Hidden Battlefield:

Until 2023, despite vast advances, China still relied heavily on foreign companies for helium storage and transshipment. This dependence made any retaliation involving rare earths risky — because the U.S. could still choke China’s helium supply in response.

source : Kevin LIANG

Kumho Mitsui Chemicals to Increase Capacity of MDI Production Facilities

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. today announced that affiliate Kumho Mitsui Chemicals Inc. has decided to further increase the capacity of its production facilities for #methylenediphenyldiisocyanate (MDI).

MDI is a key raw material for polyurethane, widely used in automotive parts, furniture and bedding, insulation for homes and refrigerators, elastic fibers, and various adhesives. Demand for MDI is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5 percent going forward on account of policy measures around the globe to improve residential insulation as a means of global warming suppression, as well as due to the heightened demand accompanying economic growth.

Kumho Mitsui Chemicals manufactures and sells high-performance monomeric, modified, and high-viscosity polymeric types of MDI used for making auto parts, elastic fibers, and highly flame-retardant insulation materials, as well as commodity polymeric MDI used for making housing and home appliance insulation. The facility is already operating at full capacity following a 200,000-ton capacity increase in 2024. With this new capacity increase, Kumho Mitsui Chemicals will be able to accommodate growing demand for not only automotive materials, but also the high-performance MDI used in flame-retardant insulation materials.

Furthermore, this move will make full use of the recycling facilities introduced during the previous 200,000-ton capacity increase, reducing GHG emissions per unit of MDI produced. Through these efforts, Kumho Mitsui Chemicals aims to simultaneously reduce the plant’s carbon footprint while improving energy efficiency, thereby contributing to cost rationalization and the establishment of a sustainable production system.

#KumhoMitsuiChemicals is aiming to become a global leader for #MDI. With this capacity increase, Mitsui Chemicals will pursue both expansion of the MDI business which is projected for continued growth going forward – and further improvements to the performance of its MDI products.

source : Mitsui Chemicals

Microorganisms and viruses to accelerate the biodegradation of bioplastics

Growing concern about plastic waste management and the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels has driven the development of bioplastics, whose global production capacity will reach 5.7 million tonnes in 2029, according to the European Bioplastics Association. However, the current configuration of some composting and anaerobic digestion plants does not always ensure that these materials are completely degraded, which poses a challenge for the environment and for waste recovery.

To respond to this challenge, AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is coordinating the MICROFAGO project, in which the Department of Plant Biology of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Valencia, Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence, Evolving Therapeutics and the company Gestión Integral de Residuos Sólidos (Girsa) are participating. The initiative proposes an innovative solution: accelerating the decomposition of compostable bioplastics in organic waste treatment processes through the combined use of microorganisms and natural viruses (phages) that promote faster and more effective #biodegradation.

#AIMPLAS has highlighted that this project represents a step forward in ensuring that bioplastics truly fulfil their sustainable function. ‘MICROFAGO will allow us to improve the treatment processes of compostable bioplastics without the need to modify existing facilities, which is key to facilitating their implementation,’ said Giovanni Gadaleta, a researcher at the Biodegradability and Compostability Laboratory at AIMPLAS.

An innovative and accessible solution

The project’s approach is simple: on the one hand, phages will be used, which act on bacteria that hinder degradation, thus favouring the work of beneficial #microorganisms. And, on the other hand, the presence of microorganisms that actively help to break down bioplastics will be enhanced by introducing them into the process to reinforce biodegradation.

In Gadaleta’s words, ‘the key is to identify the most active microorganisms and ensure that they are present in sufficient quantities for the #biologicaldecomposition process to be truly efficient.’ He also pointed out that the effectiveness of these techniques will be evaluated on different scales laboratory, pilot and industrial and compared with biodegradation or fragmentation tests regulated by current legislation.

This project is funded by the Valencian Institute of Competitiveness and Innovation (IVACE+i), through the Strategic Cooperation Projects programme in its 2024 call for proposals, and ERDF funds.

source : AIMPLAS