Breakthrough Cancer Treatment Through Innovative Design

As the portfolio manager for SOLIDWORKS Electrical, I have the opportunity to visit many companies and see many remarkable designs and products that our customers create. Recently, I visited ProNova and from the minute I walked in the building, I knew this was going to be an absolutely unique experience, unlike any customer visit I had been on before. The facility was a medical building with a very tranquil and calm setting with an expansive open area, but once I entered the ProNova engineering suite that tranquility and calm transformed into a bustling and busy manufacturing plant.

I met with a team of enthusiastic and innovative engineers that were 100 percent focused on making their product a reality. We discussed many facets of the unique challenges they had to overcome and I quickly realized that this dedicated team was not about designing and building a product, but were working to make a difference in the world by providing access to advanced cancer treatment.

The real revelation came when the team took me on a tour of the facility. I was issued a hard hat, and at that point, I grasped that this was going to be something extraordinary. We walked passed a six-foot thick wall and entered the treatment room – I felt like I walked straight into a Science fiction movie. There in front of me was a massive Ferris Wheel-like gantry structure and equipment that is used to position a proton beam with pinpoint accuracy to eradicate tumors.

As the tour continued, we walked through a maze of equipment to the beginning of the beam line where a cyclotron extracts protons and creates a “river of protons” that are used to treat the patient. This beam therapy facility included a seemingly endless expanse of cables that interconnect various instrumentation and equipment. The scope and complexity of the power supply and control room lined with racks and cabinets full of electrical and electronic systems all interconnected together was amazing. I was so proud to know that this incredible equipment was designed using SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS Electrical.

As my tour concluded – the reality, complexity and magnitude of the project came to light and I realized why the team was so dedicated and driven.

Please Watch this video to hear from the dedicated Engineers and Designers at ProNova who are truly revolutionizing cancer treatment through innovative design (registration may be required):