Cascade Dafo, Ferndale, Washington, received first place in the Manufacturing Innovation of the Year category and runner up in the Large Size Manufacturer of the Year category at the inaugural Washington Manufacturing Awards ceremony held May 27. Seattle Business magazine, in partnership with Impact Washington, launched the program in recognition of the growing importance of manufacturing in the state’s economy.
Cascade’s introduction of “a new digital brace-manufacturing capability that will save practitioners both time and money, without sacrificing the quality of the finished product,” is the innovation that was credited for both awards, according to a Cascade Dafo press release. The new system enables practitioners to upload a scan of their patient’s limb or a scan of the plaster-positive mold of their patient’s foot to a designated Cascade Dafo website. The custom-brace production can begin immediately since the shipping of plaster casts has been bypassed.
“This capability is the result of years of hard work and lots of testing and retesting. It’s rewarding to now be in the position to have it acknowledged,” Bill Weymer, CEO of Cascade Dafo, was quoted as saying.
