Surgical instrument traceability requires a highly precise, high-quality industrial marking process to guarantee identification, safety, control, and monitoring. In this post by COUTH, we will explain the importance of this process.
Before we get started, we should mention that when we say “health industry traceability,” we mean the ability to track and control the movement of instruments along the supply chain, from manufacture to use in the operating theatre.
Surgical laser marking
Surgical instrument laser marking is a technique used to mark this kind of material that fulfils and helps the surgical and medical instrument traceability system. To this end, you can use both fibre and hybrid lasers.
Laser marking surgical instruments with alphanumeric codes and Datamatrix codes provides unique identification for each instrument, which makes it easier to monitor and control them throughout their life cycle. Moreover, laser marking is permanent and sterilisation-resistant, which guarantees that the instruments identification will not be erased or deteriorated over time.
Benefits of surgical instrument traceability
Surgical instrument traceability has several benefits, including:
- Better control over inventory and productivity of surgical material, as well as its functional state.
- It also helps to guarantee that the instruments used in each surgical action are always in perfect condition.
- Moreover, traceability of the surgical instrument is essential to comply with the strict identification and traceability standards required in the medical and healthcare industry.
Importance of marking surgical instruments for traceability
Marking surgical instruments is an essential practise to guarantee patient safety, optimise inventory management, facilitate regulatory compliance, and increase efficiency in operating theatres.
Investing in an effective marking system can create significant benefits for healthcare centres, both in terms of safety and costs and productivity.
Marking surgical instruments and medical prostheses (titanium, stainless steel, etc.) is not only crucial for the patient’s safety, but it also plays a fundamental role in traceability for these devices.
Because traceability means you can track each party’s journey, from manufacture to its end use, including information such as origin, production batch, date of implant, and patient in whom it was placed.
COUTH solutions to mark surgical and all kinds of materials
As a leader in industrial marking solutions, COUTH not only offers laser marking for surgical instruments, but also a wide range of machines for permanent and precise marking of all kinds of tools, adapting to the needs of each industry and application.
As follows, we provide details on some of the main categories of COUTH devices for tool marking:
1. Laser marker machines:
- Fibre laser marking: This is a fibre optic laser marking system designed to apply permanent, high-precision marks to a wide variety of tools. This technology provides different advantages for the identification and traceability of tools in industrial settings. And it is perfect for surgical instruments.
Characteristics:
- Fibre laser source: Offers high power, reliability, and maintenance-free operation, perfect for high-volume marking applications.
- Precise marking: Creates clean, clear, and detailed marks on a wide variety of metal materials, including stainless steel, aluminium, titanium, and more.
- Fast marking: For quickly and efficiently marking tools, reducing inactivity times in production.
- Adjustable marking depth: The laser’s power can be adjusted to achieve the desired marking depth.
- Intuitive software: The easy-to-use software allows you to create and edit marking designs, and to integrate into production control systems.
- Flexible integration: The system can be easily integrated onto automated production lines, providing automatic tool marking without manual intervention.
- Marking on miscellaneous surfaces: Can mark on metal, plastic, ceramic materials, and more.
2. Dot-peen marker machines:
- Dot-peen marking: This uses a vibrating needle to create marks on the metal’s surface. Perfect for marking metals, alloys, hard plastics, and other resistant materials. It provides high durability and legibility, even in aggressive settings.
Characteristics:
- Permanent and resistant marking: Marks created by impact are highly resistant to wear, rust, chemical products, and high temperatures, guaranteeing legibility throughout the tool’s life cycle.
- Marking miscellaneous surfaces: They can mark a wide variety of materials, including metal, hard plastic, resin, and some kinds of ceramic.
- Speed and efficiency: Can mark high numbers of tools in a short period of time.
- Low operational cost: Require minimum maintenance and use economic consumables.
- Simple operation: Easy-to-use and operate with intuitive controls, which reduces the need for specialised training.
- Heat-free marking: Unlike laser marking, the dot-peen process does not generate heat, which avoids deformations or damage to the surface of the tool.
3. Scribe marker machines:
- Scribe marking: Uses a vibrating tool to create deep marks on the surface of the material. Suitable for marking large surfaces, irregular components, and very hard materials. It provides resistant, long-lasting marks for applications where aesthetics is not critical.
Characteristics:
- Permanent and resistant marking: Marks created by scribing are highly resistant to wear, rust, chemical products, and high temperatures, guaranteeing legibility throughout the tool or component’s life cycle.
- Marking miscellaneous surfaces: They can mark a wide variety of materials, including steel, aluminium, brass, copper, hard plastics (such as ABS or PVC), resins, and certain kinds of ceramics.
- Speed and efficiency: Can mark high numbers of tools or parts in a short period of time. Ideal for high-volume production volumes.
- Flexibility in marking: They create marks with different depths, from surface marks for basic information to deep marks for greater resistance to wear.
- Low operational cost: They require minimum maintenance and use affordable consumables (marking tips), which make them a profitable solution for marking tools and components.
- Simple operation: Easy-to-use and operate with intuitive controls, which reduces the need for specialised training. Intuitive software to create and edit marking designs. Possibility of integration with production control systems to automate the marking process.
- Heat-free marking: The scribe process does not generate heat, avoiding deformation and damage to the surface of the material. Perfect for marking heat-sensitive materials or components with delicate coatings.
- Safety: They comply with applicable industrial safety regulations. Ergonomic design to reduce risk of worker injury.
Now that you know about surgical instrument traceability with laser marking and all the solutions we offer at COUTH, if you have any questions or need devices to mark instruments or tools, please do not hesitate to contact us.