Develop. Validate. Scale.
Helping MedTech companies develop, validate and scale next-generation medical devices through advanced laser manufacturing.
Explore what's possible…
Discover new possibilities in MedTech manufacturing.
The way you manufacture can shape what’s possible for your product.
Whether you’re developing something new, improving the performance or manufacturability of an existing product or process, or preparing to scale into production, exploring a different manufacturing approach could reveal opportunities you haven’t yet considered.
Advanced laser manufacturing can offer new possibilities where precision, complex features, joining, surface functionality, repeatability or manufacturing performance matter. MTC can help you understand where those opportunities exist, test promising approaches against your requirements and build the evidence needed to decide whether and how to take them forward.
You don’t need to start with a defined laser application.
You might have a new product idea, an existing process you want to improve, a feature that’s difficult to manufacture, or a promising prototype that now needs a viable route towards production. We can help you discover the possibilities.
How we can help
Explore new manufacturing possibilities.
Is your current manufacturing process limiting what’s possible?
Complex geometries, tighter tolerances or demanding materials can push established manufacturing methods to their limits. MTC can explore alternative advanced manufacturing approaches, identify where laser processing could offer an advantage, and assess their technical feasibility against your product and manufacturing requirements.
Looking to improve product performance?
Manufacturing can influence more than how a component is made. MTC can explore whether laser processing could improve precision, functionality, surface properties, repeatability or manufacturability, helping you identify opportunities to enhance an existing product or process and understand where further investigation could add value.
Need to prove a concept before committing to production?
A promising idea still needs evidence. MTC can carry out application-specific trials, characterise the results and assess performance against your requirements, helping you understand technical feasibility, process capability and remaining risks before making bigger development or investment decisions.
Struggling to move from prototype to production?
What works in development may not translate directly into repeatable production. MTC can assess process capability, repeatability and manufacturing readiness, helping you understand what’s needed to scale and develop a lower-risk route towards industrial implementation.
Our approach
A structured route to explore, prove and adopt advanced laser manufacturing
You don't need to know at the outset whether laser processing is the right answer. MTC can support you at the stage that matches your need, from identifying where an opportunity exists, through generating experimental evidence, to planning and supporting industrial implementation.
DISCOVER
Could advanced laser manufacturing create value for you?
Start by understanding the opportunity. MTC can review your products, processes and manufacturing requirements to identify where laser technology could improve performance, manufacturability or production. We assess potential applications, relevant technologies, technical viability and commercial considerations to help establish whether there is a case for taking an opportunity further. Discover can include:
- Review of products, processes and manufacturing requirements
- Identification and prioritisation of potential laser applications
- Technology viability assessment
- High-level cost-benefit and business-case assessment
- Recommended next steps
The outcome: An evidence-based view of where laser manufacturing could create value and a clear recommendation on whether and how to proceed.
VALIDATE
Can we prove it works for your application?
Turn a promising opportunity into practical evidence. MTC can develop and run structured experimental trials against your requirements, using appropriate laser and material combinations. We assess the resulting components to understand achievable performance, process capability, quality, repeatability, limitations and technical risks. Validate can include:
- Requirements and success criteria
- Experimental planning and trials
- Process and material characterisation
- Assessment against your requirements
- Process window, performance and technical-risk assessment
- Recommended route towards further optimisation, pilot production or deployment
The outcome: Application-specific evidence showing whether the process can achieve what you need, with a clearer understanding of capability, risk and the next step.
DEPLOY
How do you turn a proven process into an industrial solution?
Move from technical confidence towards implementation. Once an approach has been demonstrated, MTC can help you evaluate the route into production. That can include assessing suppliers and equipment, developing the investment case, defining system requirements and supporting procurement and implementation decisions. Deploy can include:
- Review of validation evidence and deployment readiness
- Supplier, equipment and system-integrator assessment
- Investment business-case development
- Technical specifications and procurement support
- Installation, commissioning or early-production support where appropriate
- Process optimisation and troubleshooting support
The outcome: A structured implementation plan and independent guidance to help reduce risk as you move towards production.
Use cases
Proven through real-world application
MTC’s laser expertise is backed by research, development and industrial case studies that demonstrate how advanced laser processing can influence product performance, functionality and manufacturing capability.
Precision surface engineering for surgical instruments
Up to 33.2% reduction in friction and 24.1% reduction in cutting force in the investigated laser-textured blades.
MTC investigated controlled micro-scale groove textures on 316 stainless-steel surgical blades, using both Direct Laser Writing (DLW) and Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP). Different groove widths, depths, spacing and orientations were produced and tested against untextured blades to understand their influence on friction and cutting performance.
The work demonstrated that laser-engineered surface topography can materially change component performance, with selected DLIP textures producing the strongest results in the project.
Precision machining and welding of glass
Precision cutting, machining and welding demonstrated in 1.1 mm borosilicate glass, including crack-free cutting of complex guide-plate geometries.
Using high-power picosecond laser processing, MTC demonstrated multiple manufacturing operations in borosilicate glass, including precision machining, cutting and welding. For the guide-plate application, individual geometries were cut in approximately 7 seconds, with the source reporting no cracks.
The wider work also investigated deep machining, selective thin-film ablation, drilling, dissimilar material joining and hermetic sealing, demonstrating the breadth of laser processing possibilities for challenging materials and precision applications.
High-throughput precision micro-hole drilling
Multi-beam laser processing significantly increased drilling throughput compared with traditional single-beam processing while maintaining suitable hole quality.
MTC developed an approach using a diffractive optical element to create a 5 × 1 array of laser beamlets, allowing multiple holes to be processed simultaneously during continuous movement. Trials were carried out on 100 µm titanium foil using a 2 kW single-mode millisecond fibre laser. The research investigated the effects of processing conditions on hole size, quality, consistency, circularity and positional accuracy, supported by optical microscopy, SEM, high-speed imaging and thermal imaging.
Cross-sector innovation in high-speed micro-hole drilling
600 holes per second, 60 µm average hole diameter
MTC demonstrated high-speed micro-hole drilling in 1 mm thick nickel superalloy using a millisecond single-mode fibre laser. The work achieved drilling rates of 600 holes per second with an achievable average hole diameter of 60 µm, demonstrating the potential for high-rate production of precision micro-features.
The work also considered multiple beam-delivery configurations, including nozzle-based processing with co-axial assist gas and galvo-scanner processing. Developed for a hydrogen application, it provides a strong example of MTC's cross-sector laser-processing knowledge and the manufacturing capability available for applications requiring large numbers of precision micro-holes.
Why MTC?
A trusted partner
Bringing a new manufacturing approach into MedTech takes more than access to equipment. It requires the right expertise, evidence and understanding of how a technology fits into the wider product and manufacturing process. MTC combines specialist laser expertise with multi-disciplinary engineering capability and advanced manufacturing facilities, giving you access to support that can extend beyond the laser process itself.
- The UK's Laser Processing Centre of Excellence
As the UK's Laser Processing Centre of Excellence, MTC offers specialist expertise and state-of-the-art facilities covering both macro and micro laser processing. Our capabilities span areas including cutting, drilling and welding, as well as micromachining, texturing, cleaning, polishing and hardening. From exploring what's possible to developing the right process, you can access expertise and technology without first having to invest in your own laser capability. - Independent and supplier agnostic
We're not here to sell you a particular machine. MTC is independent and supplier agnostic, so our focus is on understanding your requirements and finding an appropriate manufacturing solution rather than recommending technology because of a commercial relationship with an equipment supplier. That independence matters when you're comparing technologies, validating an approach or considering a significant manufacturing investment.
- 600+ multi-disciplinary engineers
Laser processing doesn't exist in isolation. MTC has 600+ multi-disciplinary engineers and supports organisations across a diverse range of sectors, allowing knowledge and experience developed in one industry to be transferred into another. For a MedTech challenge, that creates the opportunity to bring together different areas of manufacturing expertise around the product or process, rather than viewing it exclusively as a laser challenge. - Connected to wider manufacturing expertise
A laser process may be only one part of the manufacturing solution. MTC's wider technology capability includes: Additive manufacturing, Automation & robotics, Metrology & NDT, Materials engineering, Digital manufacturing, Simulation & modelling and Manufacturing systems. That means we can consider the broader manufacturing challenge around your product, not simply the laser process in isolation.
Get in touch
FAQs
Your questions answered
I don't know whether laser processing is right for my application. Can MTC still help?
Yes. You don't need to come to MTC with a defined laser solution. We can start by understanding your product, current process, manufacturing requirements and constraints, then assess where laser technology could offer value and whether it is technically and commercially worth pursuing. MTC's approach includes technology down-selection and process development, and MTC is independent and supplier agnostic, so recommendations are not tied to a particular equipment manufacturer.
