TE Connectivity Replaces Manual Assembly With 3D Printed Catheter Jacketing

What TE Connectivity Built

TE Connectivity has introduced an automated 3D printing process for producing catheter shafts, replacing a manual assembly step that has been standard across the medical device industry for decades. The process was developed at the company's PROPELUS Prototype Center in Galway, Ireland, and is structured for contract manufacturing scale from the start.

The approach deposits polymer directly onto catheter shafts instead of fitting pre-made jacketing sections. That single change removes the hands-on fitting work that slows production and limits design flexibility. TE says the new process shortens the gap between a customer requesting a different stiffness profile and receiving a shaft ready for bench testing.

Why Catheter Jacketing Matters

Catheter shafts need precisely tuned mechanical properties. Stiffness, flexibility, and pushability all vary depending on where the catheter travels inside the body and what the tip needs to do. Conventional jacketing slides pre-extruded polymer tubes over the shaft and bonds them in place. It works, but it locks the designer into stock tube dimensions and wall thicknesses.

By depositing polymer directly, TE can vary wall thickness along the length of a single shaft. A section that navigates a tight turn can be thinner and more flexible, while the section near the handle stays thick and responsive. Those graduated properties are hard to achieve with off-the-shelf jacketing.

The PROPELUS Setup

The Galway facility runs three service lines: interventional catheters, engineered metal components, and electrical cable assemblies. Each line has dedicated engineers working alongside customer design teams, and the center stocks enough common catheter and cable materials to run several concepts at once. That setup means a process developed at PROPELUS arrives already validated for production scale.

Galway is one of four TE medical manufacturing sites. Others operate in Costa Rica, Plymouth, Minnesota, and Suzhou, China. A process proven in Ireland still has to reach each site before it appears in every market, and TE has not yet published timelines for wider rollout.

What Competitors Are Doing

TE is not alone in applying 3D printing to catheter manufacturing. Czech manufacturer Invent Medical upgraded its workflow with CAD-CAM, milling, and 3D scanning, but fabrication still ran through plaster molds and manual adjustments. After testing more than 25 printing technologies, Invent moved to a fully digital scan-to-print process in 2017 and now produces tens of thousands of custom devices per year across over 40 countries.

Invent's experience points to what TE might eventually see. Removing the manual fabrication step does more than speed things up. It opens design possibilities that were impractical with conventional methods. TE has not shared production volumes or cost targets yet, but the direction is clear.

The Bigger Picture for Medical 3D Printing

Automated catheter shaft jacketing sits in a middle space gaining attention across medical manufacturing. The technology is proven enough to move beyond prototypes, but not so dominant that every device maker has adopted it. TE's entry signals that a major connector and sensor manufacturer sees enough return to invest in process development and production infrastructure.

Catheter design is a long-cycle business. Regulatory approvals take years, and design changes during development are costly. Any process that compresses the prototyping timeline without adding compliance risk is worth watching. If TE's direct deposition approach passes clinical validation, it could become a reference point for how catheter manufacturers think about jacketing.