individualization

Finger fractures are usually still casted with plaster bandages. However, to avoid acampsia of the finger joints, flexibility exercises are necessary. Further disadvantages of the rigid plaster bandages are insufficient breathability and water resistance, weightiness and the necessity to apply wet and pliable plaster bandages to the injured patient. This article describes how individually designed hand orthoses without these disadvantages are attainable. With scans, modern software like STL editors (STL: Standard Tessellation Language) or CAD systems (CAD: Computer Aided Design) and additive manufacturing, complex, light weight and breathable structures are possible. Contrary to the solely mechanical art of casting with plaster, the new approach requires expertise in data processing and additive manufacturing seldom found in medical facilities. But this opens opportunities for service providers.

More than ever individualized products which come up to the exact customer wishes are in great demand. This statement also applies to the automobile market especially to vehicles of the upper class. Because the manufacturer offer a great supply of individual packages nearly every customer wish can be realized. If you look at this development from a company’s disposition point of view you notice that the biggest problem is the management of the variety of variants which partly go almost ad infinitum. In the following an approach should be shown for the reduction or rather the complete avoidance of the complexity through the use of a special product configuration system which is decoupled from the actual product model.