UK Precision Engineering Chard Somerset & Exeter Devon

Limbs & Things

UK Precision devised a tool that allows a leading supplier of synthetic body parts, Limbs & Things, to produce an authentic artificial arm that can be used by trainee doctors and nurses.

Limbs & Things supplies medical training products, which include medical task trainers, medical simulation models and demonstration materials for healthcare professionals. Products incorporate synthetic soft tissue models as well as multimedia medical training systems.

Andy Bastow, Operations Director, explains how UK Precision helped the Bristol company solve a challenging problem, “Limbs & Things designed the arm for advanced venepuncture training and had previously been using a combination of tools made from materials like silicon, resin and plastic. The tools were produced by hand and a great deal of down time was spent repairing the tools. Every repair produced a slight variation in the final product which meant that there was a lack of consistency in what was being produced.

Working closely with their client, UK Precision retro-engineered a mould design from the Limbs & Things arm skin 3D CAD data and came up with an aluminium tool solution which enabled a consistent mould performance and produced significant savings in the down time on tool repair.”

Chief Designer for Limbs & Things, Peter D’Alessandro, says, “We are delighted with the solution provided by UK Precision and were impressed with their excellent support service that was able to design the exact tool required for the product and because of the saving in down time, is also more cost effective. We look forward to lining up other body parts for them to tackle!”