Laser marking in the medical industry 

Edwards Lifesciences is a global leader in products and technologies to treat advanced cardiovascular disease, the global leader in acute hemodynamic monitoring and the number-one heart valve company in the world. Headquartered in Irvine, USA, Edwards Lifesciences has more than 5,000 employees worldwide, selling medical technologies in more than 100 countries

More information: www.edwards.com

The exact and permanent product identification of medical products is crucial to patients. Therefore, Edwards Lifesciences marks many medical devices already in the course of production. Also catheters have to be provided with special information, in order to guarantee their perfectly safe usage. Typically, this

data is found on the transparent hub.

The marking of the plastic hub is a rather tricky application, as it is a 3-dimensional object with a non-flat surface. Text needs to be printed on different levels. Top precision and reliability of the marking are extremely important. Edwards Lifesciences needed a system that solves this difficult marking problem in a cost effective way and is easy to operate.

It soon became obvious that the Nd:YAG flatbed laser system FineMarker by Trotec presented the ideal solution. Not only realises the FineMarker excellently crisp and clear marking results on the hub by means of colour change—the system is also very easy to operate and works extremely fast and efficiently. The Trotec-software allows for a setting of the templates to print hubs in the fastest path possible. While the FineMarker marks one large group of parts, the operator is free to complete other tasks.