Hammill Medical Ships Half Million Knees

Hammill Medical, a family owned manufacturer of orthopedic implants, has just shipped its 500, 000th knee implant. Located in Maumee, Ohio, just outside of Toledo, Hammill Medical is a full-line contract manufacturer of orthopedic implants, spinal implants, surgical instruments and implantable medical devices.

The company first began manufacturing knees in the mid-1970s, said company President John Hammill. Its first customer was Dow Corning Wright and the first knee that Hammill Medical made was a Dow Corning Wright Revision knee.

“We’re one of the largest, if not the largest, contract manufacturer of knee components, ” Hammill said, “500, 000 is a big number that shows us being a real player in the knee implant business.” Hammill said that the firm’s original manufacturing process utilized plunge-grinding of the knee casting and then relied on hand-polishing to finish the knee. Today, he said, Hammill Medical precisely grinds the articulating geometry of the knee on CNC Huffman 5-Axis Profile Grinders, and then employs robotic finishing assuring consistent mirror finishes on the articulating surfaces.

Hammill said that each knee is produced exactly the same, using a validated manufacturing process, with little or no variation from part to part. The company was established in 1955 and operates in a 90, 000 square foot facility. It is ISO 13485 accredited, and registered with the FDA #1530390 as a contract manufacturer of medical devices.