CAD/CAM Magazine

I 35 feature _ home story I CAD/CAM 2_2011 Initially, Clausen and Deichmann ap- proachedcompaniesinthehearing-aidindus- try with the idea of developing a quality- control system for hearing-aid shells and ear moulds.Similartoadentalrestoration,thede- vices need to be custom fitted to the patient’s hearing canal and are traditionally made by takinganearimpressionthatisthenmanually sculpted, cut and used to make a mould— a time-consuming, manual procedure. “Duringthesefirstmeetings,werealisedthat we could actually create a mass customisation production system,” Deichmann remembered. “So instead of just checking the quality we decided to go directly for changing the work- flowcompletely,fromamanualprocess,where you spend several hours shaping the hearing- aidshells,toacompletelydigitalworkflow.” 3Shape digitised the entire manufacturing pro- cessbyintroducinga3-Dscannerforearimpression taking,aswellasthemanagementsoftwareandCAD software needed to simulate the position of all the electronic components that need to fit into the patient’s ear along with the shell, taking up minimal space and using CAM software for controlling the manufacturing equipment. They developed the system for a specific hearing-aid manufacturer but retained the rights to sell the technology to others. At the time, there were only six companies that controlledapproximately90%oftheglobalhearing- aid market and within a period of three years, all of them went from a completely manual to an entirely digital production. Today, about 90 % of all hearing- aid devices are produced using 3Shape’s technology. ClausenandDeichmannwerealwaysawareofthe 3-D scanning technology’s enormous potential so theysoonlookedtootherindustrieswheretheman- ufacturing processes are similar to the hearing-aid industry,suchasdentallaboratories.In2004,3Shape began to receive an increasing number of requests from dental companies interested in the technology. “Wequicklydecidedthatifwewantedtoreplicate oursuccessinthehearing-aidindustry,weneededto go for the full solution to have a very user-friendly system that the dental laboratories would adopt. Therefore,wewenttoalotoflaboratories,smallones and big ones, and tried to figure out how we could optimise the processes instead of just finding a bet- ter way to make zirconia copings. From the very be- ginning,ourvisionwastoachieveacompleteswitch from analogue to digital,” Deichmann explained. 3Shape introduced its first 3-D dental scanner andCAD/CAMsoftwareforvirtualrestorationdesign at the International Dental Show (IDS) in Cologne in 2005 and the system became a raving success. In the followingyears,thecompanyextendedandenhanced theirdentallaboratoryproductrangebycontinuously responding to and involving their customers from the early stages of the product development process. “Perhaps the most important lesson we have learned is that innovation is only successful if it moves and is guided in directions that truly benefit professionals in their daily work,” Clausen, CTO and head of the 3Shape development team, pointed out. Today, CAD/CAM has conquered dental laborato- ries and clinics, ensuring high profitability by main- taining top-level quality through standardised and controlled treatment and production processes that also benefit the patient. In Germany, traditionally anearlyadopterofnewtechnologies,approximately 82%ofallceramicrestorationsarealreadyproduced using CAD/CAM technology. “The question today is nolongerifCAD/CAMwillendureintheindustry,but rather when all dental professionals will be taking advantage of it,” Clausen said. After having conquered the dental laboratory industry,3Shapealsoextendedtheproventechnolo- gies to dental clinics. “We analysed all existing scan- ningsystemsonthemarketanddefinedwhatwelike and what we didn’t like about them. We wanted to createasystemthatincorporatedalltheadvantages and eliminated all the drawbacks of the existing sys- tems. Our solution really needed to be faster, easier, more accurate and more reliable,” Deichmann said. At the opening day of IDS 2011, 3Shape launched its newest achievement, the TRIOS intra-oral scan- ningsolution,whichaimstorevolutionisethedental Always busy, the 3Shape booth at IDS 2011 in Cologne.