Velosity Opens Minnesota Lab to Speed Medical Device Parts Into Production

Velosity, a Forest Lake, Minnesota-based contract manufacturer of precision parts for medical devices, is opening a 5,000-square-foot development lab at its 100,000-square-foot machining center of excellence in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Medical Design & Outsourcing reported on May 13, the day before the company's scheduled grand opening.

The company calls the space the Velosity Engineering, Launch and Optimization Lab. It is meant to let device makers' engineers work alongside Velosity staff on part designs and functional samples on equipment kept separate from production lines, then move validated parts straight into manufacturing.

A multi-million-dollar build

Velosity began work on the multi-million-dollar project last September, according to the trade publication. During a visit to the lab on May 11, company officials told the outlet that Velosity has been making components for some of the fastest-moving areas of medtech, including pulsed field ablation and surgical robotics, and that suppliers in those areas need to be fast and nimble.

"We can have teams co-located. We can work on a part. We can optimize the part. We can change something in the drawing. And then once we get that sign-off, it will move directly from the lab right into production," said chief executive David Hemink, according to Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Chief operating officer Darren Bjork said the layout was designed to encourage collaboration. "You can see we laid it out in a way that we're trying to encourage the collaboration, getting the customer on site with us to work with us while the parts are running on the machine," he said.

Weeks instead of months, the company says

On its website, Velosity says its dedicated development equipment reduces functional sample lead times from four to six months to two to three weeks, and that the lab lets it refine existing production parts without interrupting active manufacturing. Work in the lab follows what the company calls a Phase Gate Development Process, which moves projects through defined stages toward manufacturing readiness.

The equipment includes Citizen Swiss machines for precision turning and milling, three-, four- and five-axis vertical milling machines, a Fanuc Robodrill and an IPG laser welder, according to the trade report. Velosity's site also lists wire EDM and a dedicated quality lab with metrology tools including a Hexagon Global CMM and an OGP Quest 300.

The lab supports new product development, functional prototyping, precision component development and optimization of existing production parts for original equipment manufacturers, the company says. Velosity describes the space as serving the medical device market, and its site says the lab is open for customer tours.