BMI, Toolkit3D, and Extol Enable Mass-Personalized O&P Medical Products
A connected digital supply chain helped Berretta Medical Inc. design, manufacture, and ship patient-specific 3D-printed knee braces with less manual work and fewer handoffs.
From Craft-Heavy Bracing to Digital Production
Berretta Medical Inc. is a family-owned O&P manufacturer and distributor producing bespoke braces. Traditional milling and molding made each custom brace complex and time consuming, especially as labor shortages, rising costs, and COVID-era constraints pushed the team to modernize.
BMI turned to Toolkit3D to bring its brace workflow into 3D. Instead of molding physical pieces from a positive of the patient's leg, BMI technicians could scan the patient, set product parameters, and generate a patient-specific design digitally.
"With our design engine, BMI could now easily generate and customize their designs in 3D."
One Connected Thread from Scan to Print
BMI still had several digitized but siloed steps: patient scanning, records and product parameters, design generation, and manufacturing. Toolkit3D's API connected the design engine to Materialise CO-AM, the digital supply chain platform used by Extol, so those handoffs could happen in one secure workflow.
Berretta Medical Inc. scans patients and defines the brace prescription.
Toolkit3D generates and customizes the brace design from patient data.
Materialise CO-AM routes encrypted, compliant files into production.
Extol manufactures the bespoke braces with HP Multi Jet Fusion printers.
What the Integration Changed
CO-AM became the missing connection between Toolkit3D's design automation and Extol's production environment. BMI did not need to build its own manufacturing execution system, and Extol could receive automated, encrypted, compliant files for HP MJF production.
Scan & Prescribe
Clinicians capture patient data and brace requirements, giving the workflow structured inputs from the start.
Generate & Route
Toolkit3D generates configurable designs and passes order data through CO-AM to the right manufacturing partner.
Print & Ship
Extol uses CO-AM to streamline incoming requests, queue production, manufacture the braces, and move orders toward fulfillment.
Building Business Viability for Mass Personalization
The collaboration showed how separate islands of automation can become an end-to-end digital process. CO-AM connected the factory, operating, manufacturing, and fulfillment systems so patient-specific devices could scale without thousands of manual file transfers.
"The most impactful way to accelerate the acceptance of mass personalization in the O&P market is to reduce cost."
Outcomes
BMI moved from labor-intensive molding toward a more controlled digital process.
Toolkit3D connected scan-to-fit design automation directly to a qualified supplier.
Extol receives automated production requests without repeated manual file handling.
The three companies created a repeatable digital thread from scan to shipped medical device.
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