Printed Electronics
Medico & Life science
Case

Pioner of digital disposable incontinence product

Manufacturing of wearable sensor in partnership with Abena. The Danish company Abena is one of the leading manufacturers of premium quality solutions for incontinence products.

The need for a partner to co-develop and ensure design for manufacturing for high volume production layed the foundation for the partnership between Abena and Mekoprint.

Abena have been manufacturing incontinence products and diapers since the 1970s. Together with Silicon Valley based MediSens Wireless, Abena created the world’s first digital incontinence product using wearable technology. Abena developed the incontinence product and MediSens Wireless the IT cloud solution. Mekoprint was chosen to develop and produce the printed stretchable sensor linking the two solutions together.

The solution Abena Nova is the world’s first intelligent incontinence solution produced for everyday use. A disposable product with built-in sensor and a small discrete clip attached. The sensor register when the product is wet and a notification is sent to the caregivers’ smartphones or tablets.

“It’s incredibly important that the product works every time because it’s about providing better care for the patients. The sensors must not crack or break, so the quality level must be exceptionally high. That’s one of the reasons we have worked with Mekoprint for several years, as they make the necessary investments in production equipment when required. We greatly benefit from Mekoprint's development competencies and collaborate to continuously improve the product”

Director and owner of ABENA

Arne Terp-Nielsen

Scale to cost-effective mass production

As a leading European supplier of screen printed electronics, Mekoprint had the in house competences to drive the development project and ability to scale to cost-effective mass production in high volumes, matching the global ambitions for the product.

Mutual investments for global ambitions

The sensors are made with an ultra-thin, soft and stretchable non-woven material screen printed with conductive carbon and laser cut into right dimensions.

Without creasing, breaking, stretching or shrinking the material, the entire production are handled in a fully automated roll-2-roll production setup with minimum manual handling. An optimum solution for printing electronics on extremely thin stretchable foils – a solution that is both cost efficient and scalable for high volume production.

"Mekoprint has been a true partner for Abena throughout the 4-year development project as an integrated part of the team with proactive advice and design input which will ensure our commercial success."

Managing director, Abena Produktion

Arne Terp-Nielsen

"Our partnership has been characterised by major investments from all parties which has given us a very trust-based and open collaboration. In our partnership we have created together, overcome the challenges we faced together and celebrated our successes together."

CEO, Mekoprint

Anders Kold

Deep technical knowledge of printing electrodes for medical devices

Capacitiy to produce in very large quantities
Efficient roll-to-roll production setup
Parameters control in the process
Maintaining very high quality level

Great potential in future healthcare

Read on about how ultra-thin sensors and electrodes are increasingly being incorporated into innovative products in the healthcare sector. The global market for healthcare sensors was estimated to exceed DKK 300 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow by 19% annually until 2030.