New Manufacturing Print Room for NuVasive
Construction has wrapped on a 7,500-square-foot 3-D additive manufacturing print room and team room at the NuVasive facility in West Carrolton, Ohio. NuVasive is a leading medical equipment manufacturer, focusing on developing minimally disruptive surgical products and procedures for the spine. Located at 805 Liberty Lane, NuVasive’s 172,000-square-foot facility was developed in 2015 as a massive expansion for the global medical manufacturer.
“The site selection and subsequent build-out is a major step forward in our efforts to enhance our manufacturing presence in the United States to support the self-manufacture of nearly 100 percent of select spinal products and instruments,” said Gregory Lucier, NuVasive chairman and CEO. “With this new facility, and our longer-term plans to also expand our manufacturing footprint globally, we expect to increase customer responsiveness, dramatically improve inventory turnaround, and speed up design time velocity to more efficiently meet the growing demand for our innovative spine technology.”
In July 2020, the NuVasive team approached Kapp Construction to build a 3-D printing room inside their facility. Originally, the plan was to “build a building inside a building,” but Kapp’s Project Manager Reed Welsh and Project Superintendent Ed Russell felt a design-build approach was the better option. Teaming up with App Architecture, Kapp developed a new plan—one that would take advantage of large overhead crane rails that were left in place by the building’s previous owner.
Before the project could begin, the City of West Carrollton required extensive training by those involved in titanium 3-D printing and the argon inert gas systems that were needed in the facility. As the titanium 3-D printing process can be hazardous, the West Carrollton Fire Department was also consulted before the first nail was hammered. After nearly eight months of training and approvals, construction began in December 2020.
Because of the specialized use of the 3-D printing room, many precautions had to be taken during construction. The floors and walls of the print room are electrically bonded with an antistatic coating and copper plates were installed to discharge any static electricity. The room also has an independent HVAC system with 100% outside air circulation. The existing crane rails were used to suspend the room’s ceiling, fireproof decks, and 3-D printing equipment. Despite the permitting challenges, construction was completed in five months and took place while normal operations were underway in the manufacturing facility.
