Standardization News

Stryker is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies and, together with its customers, is driven to make healthcare better. The company offers innovative products and services in medical and surgical, neurotechnology, orthopaedics, and spine that help improve patient and healthcare outcomes. Alongside its customers around the world, Stryker impacts more than 130 million patients annually.

Stryker began with Dr. Homer Stryker, an orthopedic surgeon, and his passion for solving problems. He summed up his philosophy with these words: “If your tools don’t work, make them work. If you can’t make them work, make some that do.” While still in medical school, he started tinkering in his workshop. In a few short years, he invented a rubber heel for walking casts, a unique hospital bed that reduced blood clots and skin problems in bed-ridden patients, and a specialized saw that cut through casts without cutting the patient’s skin. Stryker sold his first product in 1937 and kept inventing. In 1941, he founded the Orthopedic Frame Company and incorporated the business in 1946 to the company known today as Stryker.

Today, Stryker’s medical and surgical portfolio includes power tools and surgical equipment, orthopedic instruments, minimally invasive surgical solutions, infrastructure and integration, emergency care and acute care, and reprocessing and remanufacturing services. Stryker employs 46,000 employees across 75+ countries who are passionately driven to deliver remarkable results. Eight of Stryker’s manufacturing sites are located in Ireland, including Anngrove.

In addition to its manufacturing facilities, Anngrove is also the worldwide headquarters of the AMagine Institute, Stryker’s centre of excellence for additive manufacturing (AM), for which Stryker is a global leader in its application. This institute develops breakthrough technologies, from early research and development to full commercial launch and scaling and deploys these new technologies across its full portfolio of products and services. The company manufactures AM products to treat bone-related conditions across knees, hips, shoulder, ankle, craniomaxillofacial, and spine, as well as patient-specific solutions for people with significant disease progression, often with no alternative.

Stryker and ASTM

Dr. Stryker never stopped making new, creative medical devices — sometimes working on them at night in the hospital where he saw patients during the day. At the Stryker AMagine Institute, processes are developed by a highly skilled and talented workforce, with the collaboration and guidance of internationally recognized additive standards from organizations like ASTM International and its committee on additive manufacturing technologies (F42), enabling technologies like Tritanium In-Growth Technology, a porous structure designed to mimic the complex characteristics of cancellous bone and promote long-term biological fixation. 
AM and alternative manufacturing methods for medical devices are required to meet the highest quality demands, such as durability, reliability, compatibility, and hygiene. Quality at Stryker is fundamental to all processes controlled via our certified quality management systems, and ASTM standards play a key part in achieving these requirements by providing guidance, recommendations, and best practice for our industry and beyond.

Today, as one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, Stryker remains dedicated to its mission: “Together with our customers, we are driven to make healthcare better.” Their innovative products and services in orthopaedics, medical and surgical, and neurotechnology and spine help to improve patient and hospital outcomes across the globe. As Stryker pursues its mission to make healthcare better, they are also committed to positively impacting people and our planet through responsible, sustainable practices that create a better, healthier world. ■