The Courant Newspaper in collaboration with the First National Bank held the Best of Bloemfontein Breakfast Awards on 18 October 2018 to acknowledge and recognise the best deserving businesses and institutions in Bloemfontein. Amongst the recipients was the CUT-CRPM team led by Mr Gerrie Booysen under the category of the Most Innovative Local Business in Bloemfontein.

The CRPM is a research centre within CUT offering a 3D Printing service to industry, academia and postgraduate students. Established in 1997 as part of a research initiative, the centre has advanced drastically in making impact and changing the lives of ordinary people around the country through applying innovative technology. Internationally, many reports showcase the benefits of 3D Printing in healthcare. Aspects like reduced theatre time using 3D printed implants, cutting/drill guides and pre-operative planning models are elaborated on. The reduced theatre time has a ripple effect on faster patient recovery time.

Over the past ten years, the primary focus has been on 3D Printing of patient-specific implants and devices, which led to the first SA 3D-printed hemi-mandible implant in 2014. The CRPM has since received ISO 13485 certification in 2016 for design and manufacturing of patient-specific implants by means of 3D printing, making it the first university to obtain this in the African continent.

3D Printing is a process of joining materials to make objects from 3D data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. A design of the product is created and translated into data and loaded on the 3D printer. The product is “grown” using various powders, i.e. nylon or titanium. The powder is then spread on a powder bed where a laser then melts the first layer of powder according to the data which has been programmed onto the printer. This process is repeated until the design has been manufactured into an actual product.

Images

1: From left: Mr Stephen Gooch, FNB Free State Regional Head, Mr Johan Els, Operations Manager, Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM), Mr Gerrie Booysen, Director: CRPM; Ms Christel Basson, Mahareng Publishing General Manager; Dr Gary Paul, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Resources and Operations at CUT; and Mr Dan Maritz, Director: Communications and Marketing at CUT.

Photo Credit: Pierce van Heerden, Courant

2: The most Innovative Local Business Award went to CUT-CRPM. From left: Mr Gerrie Booysen, Director for Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM); Ms Christel Basson, Mahareng Publishing General Manager; Mr Stephen Gooch, FNB Free State Regional Head; and Mr Johan Els, Operations Manager at CRPM.