Boston Knee Party - my visit to the ConforMIS knee manufacturing plant

I was invited to visit the ConforMIS knee manufacturing plant to see the process for taking a CT scan and turning it into a custom knee - with all the specialty jigs made just for one knee.  Fascinating!

I will let these videos speak for them selves.  There  are several videos - take the tour!

I was a little nervous for this tour, after all, I was going to meet my baby knee!

https://www.facebook.com/HealthyKnees/videos/1133803983422491/

Before going in the factory, we had an on screen presentation of the process.

Here we go into the manufacturing plant...

Then back to the CAD designers who were responsible for taking the 2-D CT scans and turning them into 3-D parts.  I think this was my favorite part of the tour - they worked in pairs so that there was a double check on the designs.  I don't think they'd ever had the chance to meet a patient before the surgery.  I wanted them to know that they aren't just creating a part, they are changing a life in a very drastic way.  After a lifetime (since I was 10) of pain, the thought of no pain is almost inconceivable - and these fine engineers are making this happen.  #gratitude

And now a visit to the headquarters to meet with the Marketing Team for lunch.  They brought out a case of knees so that I could see the differences in the custom work.  This was truly outstanding and easy to see that each knee is unique!  I am most impressed that there is no "overhang" or "underhang" as can be found with "off the shelf" knees which potentially causes functional issues.  Nope, not with ConforMIS because the knee is molded to exactly fit your knee and no one elses.  Why wouldn't everyone want a custom knee?

THANK YOU ConforMIS for inviting me to visit your facility. Outstanding work and attention to detail, testing of EVERY knee for conformance to the specs (off the shelf knees only test a selected few from the batch), and such welcoming atmosphere to everyone I met. Had a chance to say hello to CEO Phillip Lang.