Memry Touts Virtues of Vertical Integration
June 14, 2010 – 10:16 pm
Nicola Di Bartolomeo, CEO, Memry.
You don’t hear many companies bragging about their vertically integrated operations. In fact, the concept has fallen out of favour, as evidenced by firms rushing to outsource all but their core business activities. Global supplier of nitinol-based products Memry begs to differ. Rallying under the slogan “from melt to market,” the company finds immense value in consolidating processes and controlling its technology. “Vertical integration is the core of our business model,” Nicola Di Bartolomeo, CEO of Memry, unabashedly told medtechinsider during an interview at MD&M East in New York.
“Nickel titanium is not stainless steel . . . it is not a commodity material,” stresses Di Bartolomeo. “Nitinol is a unique material that is difficult to melt and to work. It is an alloy with which we manufacture wires, tubes and sheet to make a plethora of components. Having available the scientific knowledge and engineering expertise that allows us to process the material effectively is critical,” says Di Bartolomeo. “Vertical integration gives us control of the technology and allows us to effectively leverage nitinol as an enabling technology.” It also allows the company to devote appropriate resources to materials development and rapidly bring new products to market. One such example is a nitinol-based alloy that Memry introduced at MD&M East last week.
The NiTiCo alloy was developed at the behest of a customer who wanted to overcome certain limitations of standard nitinol-based guidewire design. “We added cobalt to the formulation, which allowed our customer to improve properties such as torque transmission and overall guidewire support,” explains Di Bartolomeo.
Memry's new nickel-titanium-cobalt alloy features improved torque transmission and overall guidewire support compared with conventional nitinol.
The material combines the elasticity of nickel titanium with a 40% increase in modulus. It provides OEMs with new opportunities to enhance the design of next-generation devices, according to Memry.
Standard materials also benefit from Memry’s consolidation of expertise and “melt-to-market” oversight, adds Di Bartolomeo. The search for cleaner materials is an important development project for SAES Getters, which acquired Memry in September 2008. Materials suppliers must be able to control the formation of inclusions during the production process, says Di Bartolomeo. “As devices continue to shrink in size, reducing inclusions becomes ever more critical. Impurities can lead to crack initiation and impact the overall fatigue life of devices,” he cautions.
Italian advanced material company SAES Getters and sister company SAES Smart Materials have more than 25 years of experience melting, drawing and forming nitinol. Vertical integration is key to building on that quarter century of success, maintains Di Bartolomeo. “It’s important to understand that vertical integration does not mean a closed system,” he stresses. “For example, we sell materials to companies that compete with us in manufacturing wires, tubes and components. What we mean by vertical integration is maintaining control of the technology and continuing to create opportunities for innovation,” says Di Bartolomeo.
Norbert Sparrow
Tags: memry, NiTiCo, nitinol, saes getters, vertical integration
5 Responses to “Memry Touts Virtues of Vertical Integration”
After reading this interview I have a question for Mr. Nicola Di Bartolomeo. Your statement “As devices continue to shrink in size, reducing inclusions becomes ever more critical. Impurities can lead to crack initiation and impact the overall fatigue life of devices.” indicates that inclusions are still an unresolved problem for nitinol producers.
Do you think that a very quick, simple, inexpensive, and reliable chemical test for detecting surface inclusions would be helpful as a final inspection tool for nitinol devices before implantation?
Sincerely
Ryszard Rokicki
By Ryszard Rokicki on Jun 22, 2010
Mr. Rokicki, your question is apparently simple, but the matter is complex. We are aware you filed a Petition to FDA regarding this issue. I just mention that inclusions cannot be eliminated, and that there are already industry standards to control the size and volume of inclusions. Moreover, durability of a device is impacted by many factors, including of course the design of the device and the surface treatment. We do believe a continuous effort to develop cleaner (i.e., with less inclusions) material is an important direction, still being fully aware of the complexity surrounding the durability of Nitinol medical devices. So, even assuming there is a reliable and non-invasive testing for surface inclusions (and again, there are always inclusions), it would not – in my opinion- offer a decisive test to assess the durability of the device.
Best regards
Nicola Di Bartolomeo
By Nicola Di Bartolomeo on Jul 1, 2010
Thank you for your response, Mr. Di Bartolomeo. You are correct about me filling a Petition with FDA demanding an introduction of a chemical test to check for surface inclusions on nitinol devices before implantation in human body. As for now, I am awaiting FDA positive response which could eliminate a lot of post implantation problems and unnecessary human suffering connected with defective nitinol devices. I am sure that every nitinol producer is doing everything possible to minimize the number of inclusions. But I also think that eliminating devices with surface inclusions before implantation, which can be done by using this test, makes a lot of sense. Everybody knows that as you stated “and again, there are always inclusions” we can’t check for those which are inside easily, and even if we could, we would still be using nitinol. But it is common knowledge that surface inclusions are the main source of problems with nitinol implantable devices due to crack initiation and nickel leaching sites and they could be identified by the proposed test and the faulty device rejected.
Sincerely
Ryszard Rokicki
By Ryszard Rokicki on Jul 5, 2010