As part of a press trip to GE Healthcare’s R&D and manufacturing site in Uppsala, Sweden, Biopharma-Reporter was invited to find out more about the Innovative Design and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center which opened its doors last month.
The life sciences vendor is developing additive manufacturing – commonly known as 3D printing – and robotic technologies for the production of bioprocessing tools and equipment.
The facility is equipped with a metal and a polymer industrial grade 3D printer, along with a heat bonding machine, and traditional manufacturing equipment. Several collaborative robots (known as ‘cobots’) will also be developed in the lab then transferred to the factories that need them.
Among the projects underway, the firm is working with Amgen to test the performance of a custom-designed 3D printed chromatography column.
GE is expecting to start integrating the technology into its bioprocessing offerings from 2018.