Stryker Partners With Kaysun to Launch Advanced Surgical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Solutions

Stryker has officially launched its new generation Steri-Shield 8 Personal Protection System, setting a new standard for surgical personal protective equipment (PPE). This newly released protection system breaks through the limitations of traditional medical equipment and is specifically designed for high-demand operating room environments, providing healthcare professionals with enhanced comfort, reliability, and functionality.

The core highlight of this system lies in a user-friendly helmet featuring three main characteristics: personalized fit achieved through three contact points, directional airflow delivery to the front and rear neck areas, and a more efficient charging base, along with three robe-style matching options. Additionally, for the first time, the helmet’s headband adopts a split structure design to accommodate users with long hair.

However, achieving this level of innovation requires more than just bold ideas — it also demands collaboration among all parties, mutual trust, and the right partners to transform complex design concepts into actual products under stringent regulatory requirements, production pressures, and tight deadlines.

Kaysun, headquartered in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is a key partner in this collaboration.

Building on the successful foundation of previous collaborative projects, Stryker once again chose Kaysun as a supplier and partner. From early design guidance to the production of complex components meeting stringent appearance and functional requirements, Kaysun assisted Stryker in launching the Steri-Shield 8 helmet to market on time and to standard.

Trust as the Foundation: The Starting Point of Cooperation

As a leading company in the global medical technology field, Stryker has always been meticulous in selecting suppliers. The choice of Kaysun to participate in the Steri-Shield 8 project was not accidental—the collaboration between the two began with the Stryker System 9 orthopedic surgical battery pack project. In this project, Kaysun's engineering team, with their professional capabilities, excellently completed the tasks of high-precision design and production of high-precision injection-molded components.

The chief engineer who was in charge of the battery pack project at the time later joined Stryker's Steri-Shield 8 team. When the injection molding process for the helmet components faced technical challenges, this engineer unhesitatingly recommended Kaysun.

“We have developed a strong collaborative relationship with Stryker’s engineering team,” said an engineer from Kaysun. “We have become a trusted partner for them, and they firmly believe that working with us to advance this helmet project is a reliable choice.”

Facing Challenges: The Test of Accepting Challenges

This trust was soon put to the test. Stryker shared the helmet design proposal with Kaysun, clearly outlining the technical challenges of the seven key components and the urgent development schedule.

The injection molding production of each component presents certain challenges, with one core component being the most difficult due to its complex geometry, high flexibility requirements, and stringent appearance standards.

"After a preliminary evaluation, we responded that, according to the original design scheme, this component with the most complex structure could not achieve mass production through injection molding," recalled an engineer from Kaysun. "However, Stryker proactively collaborated with us to jointly explore and implement targeted design optimization solutions. They had full confidence in our technical capabilities and truly worked with us as partners to advance the mass production of this component."

Kaysun’s tooling and engineering teams led detailed mold design reviews, conducted multiple rounds of Moldflow Analysis and Design for Manufacturability (DfM) assessments to validate the feasibility of the and optimize component design.

Through close collaboration with Stryker, Kaysun successfully transformed this complex design into a high-quality, mass-producible injection-molded component, and completed the production of this part as well as six other helmet components within Stryker’s specified standards and timeline.

Delivering Results: The Practice of Fulfilling Commitments

Jenna Vogel, a business development engineer at Kaysun, stated that the company is well aware of the importance of this project to Stryker.

"The project timeline was extremely tight," she pointed out. "It took only about 12 months from initial contact to full-scale production of the medical devices—a rarity and a real challenge in the industry. We committed to meeting Stryker's requirements, and ultimately, we delivered on that promise."

From Kaysun's perspective, what is the key to project success?

In addition to maintaining ongoing collaboration with the Stryker team on design and injection molding challenges, expertise in mold technology and advanced manufacturing capabilities also played a key role.

Mold Solutions

Kaysun's cross-functional engineering and tooling team has developed multiple tooling and injection molding process optimization solutions to address the uniqueness and potential conflicts in the design priorities of helmet components.

Conduct mold flow analysis to optimize the filling, packing, cooling, and warpage performance of complex geometries; meanwhile, work closely with Stryker to determine gate locations, ejection points, venting positions, and weld line distribution to ensure the product meets appearance and dimensional requirements.

Adopt a collaborative mold design approach to ensure the consistency of component production and the service life of the mold.

Implement sequential cavity pressure monitoring to ensure the stability of component production quality.

Customize inspection fixtures and gauges, establish detailed inspection procedures, and record inspection data during the production process to ensure that all batches of components precisely replicate the design standards.

Appearance and Color Scheme Solutions

Producing high-quality components is only part of the project’s objectives. The helmet has stringent requirements for surface finish, appearance quality, and color consistency. Kaysun achieved this goal through the following measures:

Conduct Design for Manufacturability (DfM) work, including mold flow analysis and mold parting design, to minimize parting lines and ejector marks in appearance areas to the greatest extent possible.

Design customized complex robotic arm end-effectors to ensure that the risk of drag, scratch, wear, and other demolding defects is minimized when removing components from the mold.

Real-time monitoring of high-gloss surfaces (including Stryker brand markings) and textured surfaces is conducted to ensure that appearance standards are consistently met throughout the entire production process.

Collaborate with material suppliers to pre-color the resins, ensuring color consistency across different batches of materials; simultaneously implement internal color monitoring during the injection molding process to maintain the required color difference range.

Deepening Cooperation: A Win-Win Future

Successfully meeting Stryker's requirements and achieving the mass production of seven key helmet components for the Steri-Shield 8 system within a tight deadline is an achievement that Kaysun takes great pride in — a goal not all injection molding companies can accomplish.

However, success in the field of complex medical device injection molding depends not only on technological breakthroughs but also on the continuous advancement of collaborative relationships. For Kaysun, the Steri-Shield 8 project opened the door to further cooperation with Stryker and its upstream supplier network.

A member of the Kaysun engineering team stated that the prospects for cooperation between the two parties are very promising.

“They recognize our engineering expertise and see our proactive, collaborative attitude. They know that we will, as always, fulfill our commitments and deliver on our promises.”

A busy year

As of now, 2025 has been a transformative year for Stryker, headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan. At the beginning of the year, the company announced it would acquire Inari Medical, a company focused on the peripheral vascular field.

In addition, Stryker announced that it will sell its spine business to Viscogliosi Brothers, a family investment firm focused on the neuromusculoskeletal field.