U.P.B. Sci. Bull., Series D, Vol. 75, Iss. 1, 2013 ISSN 1454-2358 RESEARCH ON DEPLOYING TECHNICAL FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF A SURGICAL DEVICE FOR INTRAVITREAL INTERVENTIONS Mihaela E. LUPEANU 1 , Hadley BROOKS 2 , Allan E.W. RENNIE 3 , Dave HILL 4 În lucrare se prezintă o nouă metodologie de dezvoltare a produselor pentru aplicaţii ale tehnologiilor de fabricare aditivă. Metodologia are la baza tehnici ale analizei functionale tehnice, fiind aplicată la reproiectarea unui instrument chirurgical pentru intervenţii oculare. Cercetările evidenţiază îmbunătăţiri semnificative în funcţionalitatea produsului şi reducerea costurilor de producţie. Designul unic şi inovant al produsului, a obţinut recenzii excelente după testele în laborator şi in vivo. Simulări la oboseală s-au efectuat atât pentru materiale specifice prototipurilor, cât şi pentru cele biocompatibile în vederea comercializării pe piaţă în producţie de serie. Rezultatele cercetărilor sunt folosite de sistemul naţional de sănătate din Marea Britanie pentru lansarea unui nou produs competitiv. This paper presents a methodology on designing for additive manufacturing applications using technical functional analysis tools. The methodology is applied to the re-design of a device for intravitreal interventions. The present research leads to significant improvements in product functionality and reduction of manufacturing costs. The unique and innovative design of the product had encouraging reviews after laboratory and in vivo testing. Fatigue simulations were deployed for both prototyping materials and biocompatible materials, in the hopes of series production. Results of the current study are being used by a commercial company in the United Kingdom to support the launch of a new competitive product. Keywords: life cycle analysis, design for multi-function, design for additive manufacturing 1. Introduction Product development optimisation methods that give companies a head start have been the focal point of researchers for years. This paper proposes a 1 Assist., Manufacturing Department, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: mihaela.lupeanu@gmail.com 2 Lecturer, Computing, Engineering & Phisical Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom, e-mail: HLBrooks@uclan.ac.uk 3 Head of Unit, Lancaster Product Development Unit, Engineering Department, Lancaster University, United Kingdom, e-mail: a.rennie@lancaster.ac.uk 4 Technical Director, AmDel Medical Ltd, 146 Allerton Road, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, United Kingdom, e-mail: dave.hill@amdelmedical.com