Hewlett Packard Moves into the Foot Orthotic Industry

Hewlett-Packard are more well known as a computer and printer company that has also been more recently been manufacturing printers for the 3d industry. These printers are being widely used in the custom foot orthotic laboratory industry. In July 2021, Hewlett-Packard announced that they are moving into the custom foot orthotic market with systems and solution for podiatrists and orthotists to use in their clinic with what they called their Arize Orthotic Solution. The system uses a blend of advanced 3D printing and cloud-based software which Arize enhances the development and delivery of custom-fit prescriptive orthoses to streamline business operations to take foot health into the next generation. Podiatrists and orthotists can capture 3D renderings of a patient’s foot using the provided scanner, then fine-tune and prescribe personalized orthoses for their patients using the cloud based prescription software.

Traditionally custom made foot orthotics were made off a plaster model taken off the foot and posted to the central fabrication laboratory who then hand make the device and return it to the clinician. More recently scanners were used to take the model of the foot and send that electronically to the laboratory who would still hand make the foot orthotic or more recently use a CAM milling machine to mill the device rather than hand make it. The most recent innovation is the use of 3d printing by the custom made foot orthotic laboratory. The Arize Orthotic Solution is set to automate as much of those process for the clinicians. Arize disrupts the status quo of the industry, bringing with it a new kind of efficiency and optimizes customization capabilities that are just not possible through those more traditional processes. For example, the Arize scanner and prescribing software can automatically detect anatomical landmarks on the foot that are found in the 3D printed foot scan. From this the clinicians can approve or modify as needed and take another scan if needed. Clinicians can then use the prescribing software to adjust details on the prescription to enhance form, fit, and function, with thin, light, and low-profile foot orthoses that the 3D printing enables. It is claimed that the whole process will take less than five minutes. The 3D printing can leverage the design flexibility that is enabled by 3D printing to tailor the orthoses based on patient needs, activity levels and other prescription variables. The Arize cloud-based architecture used by the system streamlines clinic operations and efficiencies by providing access to all the clinic’s staff to all current patients and their prescription status. All of this should lead to an increase in a clinics productivity.

The Arize Orthotic Solution takes advantage of Hewlett-Packard’s industry-leading Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology to help clinicians deliver individually customized foot orthotics. For podiatrists and other specialty clinics the highly variable and manual processes can be challenging. Foot orthoses produced with Hewlett-Packard’s Multi Jet Fusion technology can be made to optimize the materials that are used while delivering the fine detail combined with strength. Arize leverages the proprietary Hewlett-Packard innovations in digital software and data intelligence to provide a solution with highly accurate, repeatable, and consistent digital workflows to help deliver a competitive solution.

Craig Payne is a University lecturer, runner, cynic, researcher, skeptic, forum admin, woo basher, clinician, rabble-rouser, blogger and a dad.