A medical technology company in southwest China has pioneered globally unprecedented speed in the 3D printing of orthopedic casts, producing personalized supports in less than half an hour.
The state-of-the-art machines are the world's first 3D high-speed printing (3D HSP) systems for producing medical equipment, developed by West China Pitech, headquartered in Chengdu, the capital of southwest Sichuan Province.
The printers can rapidly produce external fixation supports similar to plaster casts used in emergencies and to help patients recover from injuries. The technology has now been widely applied in 16 provinces and regions across China.
"Our equipment is the world's first 3D HSP printer. Traditional machines usually take five to six hours to print, but that's been shortened to about 20 minutes. This is key to the new quality productivity forces that we advocate for now, as it gives patients a better experience and provides more timely treatment," said Sun Miao, general manager of West China Pitech.
Besides 3D printing, the company also takes a leading role in medical rehabilitation. One of their products, a robotic device with a control stick that can be pushed and pulled in all directions, lets patients play the classic Chinese tile game of Mahjong and other interactive games to aid upper limb recovery.
"You can start trying to push it forward. We now control this hand, shuffle the cards here, and fully mobilize people's subjective initiative," said Zhang Tailue, head of the logical feature team of West China Pitech.
The level of resistance on the control stick can be adjusted based on the personalized needs of the patient, according to Zhang.
"The scenarios we are currently targeting are communities and homes. With our equipment offered to communities, the elderly can simply go downstairs and spend a few minutes completing these. It’s an important example of the new quality productive forces, as it allows more people to enjoy a better experience at a lower cost," said Zhang.
China makes global breakthrough in high-speed 3D printers for medical equipment
China makes global breakthrough in high-speed 3D printers for medical equipment
The second phase of the 140th China Import and Export Fair has opened after the organizer demolished and rebuilt about 25,000 booths in mere 76 hours, a feat achieved through smart tools such as intelligent logistics and AI-powered drawing review that turned setup work from a "battle of brawn" into a "battle of brains."
Also known as the Canton Fair, the biannual event is China's largest and longest-running comprehensive trade fair and a widely watched barometer of the country's foreign trade.
This year's autumn session is being held in three phases, running through Nov 4 in Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province. The ongoing second phase runs from Friday to Oct 27.
The Canton Fair completed a full-hall switch between its first and second phases in just 76 hours from 18:00 on Oct 19, when the venue closed, to 22:00 on Oct 22.
The turnaround covered the entire chain: taking down exhibits, removing display fixtures, dismantling booths and cleaning the halls, followed by building the next phase's booths, installing fixtures, arranging exhibits and setting up the venues.
Dismantling and rebuilding about 25,000 booths for the second phase within a three-day window placed extremely high demands on scheduling and coordination, as every step was closely interlinked.
"At this edition of the Canton Fair, we rolled out smart services covering logistics, exhibit handling, and vehicle access and parking, along with AI-powered booth design and drawing review. Compared with manual review, which used to take 30 to 40 minutes per drawing, AI review now returns a result in about one minute," said Huang Li, manager of the general management department at China Foreign Trade Center (CFTC), the organizer of the fair.
To boost transport efficiency, this edition of the Canton Fair introduced a new smart traffic management system. Exhibitors book entry slots via their phones, and the system centrally schedules each exhibitor's entry gate and time to prevent congestion among transport vehicles.
"Setting up ran smoother than before. We used the smart traffic management system, and our exhibits reached our booth smoothly," said Liu Tao, an exhibitor.
Canton Fair enters 2nd phase after 76-hour extreme makeover using smart tools
