Medical devices

Vistakon

Problem: Hydration process is the rate limiting step in the current production line of contact lenses manufacturing
MACSI Contribution:

• Modelling of contact lens manufacturing process called hydration
• Modelling of equipment to fit in new production rig

Outcome: Increased efficiency and improved design of production lines

Boston Scientific

Problem: Hole formation during manufacturing renders stents unusable

MACSI Contribution:

• Developed two models to account for the formation of holes

Outcome: Both models suggested that an increase in curing temperature will accelerate the monomer polymerization, while only slightly accelerating solvent evaporation, thereby reducing the likelihood of hole formation.

Pharmaceutical

X company
Problem: Variability in dose delivered by new design of dry-powder inhaler

MACSI Contribution:

• Mathematical model of new design of dry-powder inhaler
• Understanding of particle-wall interactions within device

Minimising variability in drug delivery

Outcome: Improved understanding of process, now in compliance with device specifications

Multiple companies

Ongoing Problem: Uncertainty in the end point of primary drying in a freeze-drying process

MACSI and PMTC Contribution:

• Development of a mathematical model for the precise determination of the end point of primary drying use data from several pharmaceutical companies.

Expected Outcome: Quantitative criterion for the end of primary drying based on non-invasive measurements made in the freeze drier. Optimization of the lyophilisation process

Semi-conductor Industry

Analog Devices

Problem: Reduce the need for costly experiments on polysilicon fuse components

MACSI contribution:

• Developed a multiphysics compartment model describing electronic, thermodynamic and fluid mechanical phenomena.

Outcome: The model generated quantitatively accurate results, therebyreducing the amount of experiments required

Inkjet printing

Problem: The need to optimize the design of innovative inkjet  printing technology

MACSI contribution:

• Developed a reduced fluid-structure interaction model, and implemented in Ansys simulation package
• Using the simulation tool an optimization algorithm for finding design parameters was developed 

Outcome: An efficient algorithm for accurately targeting the region of design space for innovative new products, at a fraction of the computational cost of previous approaches.

Service Parts & Logistics

Dell

Problem: Forecasting of demand for service parts to support the warranty base of products in Europe, Middle East and Africa

MACSI contribution:

• Analysed the datasets provided by Dell.
• Assessed the accuracy of in-house forecasting methods.
• Developed a Poisson process model of demand that improves the accuracy of forecasts.

Outcome: Improved method for forecasting demand for  service parts saving Dell over a million dollars per anumn