Some of the best industry stories originate from collaboration between competitors. Whether it is between two OEM rivals seeking to conquer a condition by leveraging complementary technology, or contending service providers striving to achieve a common goal for a shared customer, these tales often provide the biggest payoff.

I know my experience doesn’t approach those success stories, but hopefully, it’s the beginning of a mutually beneficial arrangement. It began with outreach requesting coverage of news regarding the annual OMTEC event which rapidly progressed to Howard Revitch, group publisher, and I making flights to attend. 

Having never been to OMTEC previously, I was unsure what to expect. While I’ve attended other orthopedic-centric events such as the AAOS and NASS annual meetings, this was a dedicated trade show for device manufacturers and service providers. I was grateful to have the opportunity to experience it. 

Immediately upon entering the expo, I was surprised by the scale of the event. Booths for virtually every supplier firm with which I was familiar (as well as a variety of which I was unaware) filled the room. Greetings were exchanged with a good number of those in attendance before I perused the conference sessions. The list of topics covered was a highlight of the most pressing issues affecting the orthopedic device manufacturing industry, from materials to design to regulatory to commercialization. 

My first session, “Developments in Metals and Bioresorbables Showcase the Future of Orthopedic Materials,” featured a panel consisting of representatives from Arctic Biomaterials, Fort Wayne Metals, and Sandvik Additive. Each speaker offered a material overview, while also providing examples of best-use cases. For a design engineer seeking to work with new, exciting materials for their next project, this was the right session to attend. 

I also attended another materials-focused session during my visit. “Explore the Exciting Potential of 3D Printing with Next-Generation Materials” featured another panel of company representatives discussing the expanding additive manufacturing (AM) substances and their role in orthopedics. Speakers from Poly-Med, Croom Medical, and Himed spoke about the growing list of polymers, bioceramics, and novel metals (e.g., tantalum) that broadened the usefulness of AM within orthopedic device applications. Since one of the limiting factors with AM has been the number of material options, the ongoing efforts to increase the catalog of available offerings are welcomed. 

Another session I joined featured representatives from companies that had won recognition from the first OMTEC awards program. Panelists from Foundation Surgical (Ground Breaking Device Design award for its Vertiwedge Intraosseous implant), J&J MedTech (Next-Gen Innovator award for its VELYS Spine platform), and Enovis (Bold Leadership award for its strategy to enter high-value market adjacencies) shared their experience related to their respective awards and offered best practices learned from the journey. 

The new awards program served as a perfect platform from which to launch this session, and I shared that opinion with Carolyn LaWell, chief content officer of ORTHOWORLD, as much during our brief discussion. I mentioned how I thought growing the award program could only work in their favor to help develop engaging content for future conference/expo events. 

The final discussion I was able to observe offered a case history-style success story involving Ignite Orthopedics, Paragon Medical, and J&J MedTech. The outcome of the collaboration was the INHANCE Shoulder System. The panel mentioned how the development of an additively manufactured system must be approached with a different mindset. For example, it was stated that holes and features could be considered as being “free” or as providing cost savings since less material was used versus making these with a subtractive technology. The comments from this panel made me wonder how many devices leveraging additive manufacturing are still designed more traditionally. In doing so, engineers are not truly gaining the full advantages AM offers. For those developing new technologies, are you doing so with machining, casting, or forging in mind or are you planning for AM? It might be time to go back to the drawing board. 

In addition to speaking with Carolyn about the event and the inaugural awards program, we both agreed this industry had plenty of space for coverage from both of us. Further, as I’m sure she’ll agree after attending the ODT Forum in April 2026, our events are completely different in scope and vision. While we are both seeking to best serve this industry, we each do so from a disparate approach and, as such, attendees benefit from having access to both. 

I look forward to welcoming Carolyn and colleagues at our Forum and hope to return to OMTEC next year. 

Sean Fenske, Editor-in-Chief
sfenske@rodmanmedia.com