When Chedtha Puncreobutr came back to his home country, Thailand, in 2014, after his Ph.D. in metal 3D printing at the Imperial College of London, United Kingdom, he wanted to put the revolutionary technology to good use. A few years later, patients in Thailand can benefit from the 3D-printing expertise of Meticuly for bone replacement.
A metallurgical expert, Chedtha became an assistant professor at Chulalongkorn University, in the metallurgical engineering department, where he worked alongside his colleague Boonrat Lohwongwatana, an associate professor. “We both shared the same technical knowledge and the passion to find ways to use the technology to help people.” They settled on medical devices and, in particular, bone replacement. Neither had previous knowledge of medical devices, and they conducted further research to find out which materials can be safely used in people.
After consulting with doctors, and in particular, with an orthopedic surgeon, working hand in hand with them, they refined their invention, and in 2015, they delivered their first 3D-printed thumb metacarpal bone. That success prompted the launch of Meticuly, as a spin-off of Chulalongkorn University. Meticuly, after “meticulously”, is one of the very few tailored 3D printed implants companies in the world.
Four Steps to create Meticuly 3D Printed Bone
Off-the-shelf bone implants usually come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. The surgeon and his team then have to shape and carve implants to fit the patient’s body in the operating theater.
This is where personalized healthcare comes in as a life-changer for both surgeons and patients. “I believe personalized medicine is the new way of treatment”, Chedtha emphasized.
Meticuly’s process is essentially articulated around four steps.
The first one is a tomography (CT) scan of patients, whether they need bone implants following a medical condition such as a tumor, or are accident victims.
The second one is the construction of a 3D model through an artificial intelligence-assisted program. The data from the CT scans are fed to an AI engine, which converts that data into a 3D model. “It is not something that people have done in the past because it takes some time to convert these CT Scans and make them into a 3D model”, according to Chedtha. The AI system is constantly trained with data so that it learns how to segment and design models. This machine learning speeds up the conversion process as well as the accuracy, he said.
The third step is the actual 3D printing through a machine that melts titanium powder, layer by layer, to create a solid part. “We can basically create any shape using this technology”, Chedtha said.
After the printing, the implant is checked and sterilized before being delivered to the hospital, which is the fourth step. The time needed to complete the four steps was an average of 7 days in 2022.
Factory-in-a-Box
To reduce the delivery time, Meticuly deployed the world-first 3D printing factory-in-a-Box at Siriraj Hospital, the largest hospital in Thailand, “dramatically shortening turnaround time and improving patient outcomes,” said Chedtha in 2025.
Meticuly’s Factory-in-a-Box, further explained Boonrat, “enables hospitals to produce fully approved, patient-specific titanium implants within a few days.” The fastest turnaround, he said, is less than 24 hours.
The company complied with stringent regulatory requirements for hospitals, which must “operate under certified manufacturing quality management systems and obtain ethical and clinical approvals for in-house utilization of implants,” Boonrat explained.
Scalable Technology for 3D Printing Bone Replacement
Meticuly aims at replicating the structure of the bones. Titanium is a strong and hard metal, which is much denser than natural bones. Were the implants very thick and solid, they would be too strong and heavy. The perforated patented pattern designed by Meticuly, is strong but yet very light and imitates the property of bones. It also allows X-rays after surgery.
“The technology is scalable, we can help many people at the same time”, noted Chedtha.
In the beginning, Meticuly had to limit the size of implants it could produce and started with the small bones of the hands for easier control of the printing. The printing controls have about 30 to 40 parameters to ensure the successful 3D printing of each part, explained Chedtha. “We are now able to print bigger parts.”
Meticuly’s range of implants was mainly for cranial and facial replacements serving patients who suffered accidents, strokes, or tumoral diseases. The company is now using its technology to expand to other parts of bones, such as hip and spine.
In 2025, over 2,200 patients have received a Meticuly implant, not only in Thailand, but also in Southeast Asia, the European Union, and the United States. The company is expanding globally, and their products are now widely used and accepted in many countries, according to Chedtha.
The company is trying to keep prices affordable so that many patients can benefit from its technology. At the moment, Meticuly’s implants are slightly more expensive than the imported fixed-sized implants, Meticuly’s implants however are 4 to 10 times cheaper than the few other 3D printed implants that could be imported.
Challenges Meticuly faced when introducing the Technology to Surgeons
Initial fundamental research was carried out with funding from Chulalongkorn University. The funding supported research on the biocompatibility of titanium for use on patients, how to test it, and how to ensure the patient's body would not reject it.
“The challenges we met came from two directions”, said Chedtha, the first of which was introducing the technology to surgeons, and in particular, the production time frame. The technology had to be safe and available quickly to be useful for them.
The second challenge came from the commercialization of implants. “3D-printed bone implants are a new technology,, and we had to work hand-in-hand with surgeons and entice them to change the way they work, win their trust. It was not easy for researchers like us.”
To win surgeons’ trust Meticuly went for certifications, starting with the Thailand Food and Drug Administration (TH-FDA) certification. They then applied for the highest ISO standard for medical device manufacturing: ISO 13485, a global certification awarded in 2018. The company recently received a US FDA 510(k) clearance, the United States FDA certification, for 3D-printed Patient-specific Cranial Mesh and Craniofacial Mesh.
Since 2024, the 3D printed titanium cranial implant has been approved for nationwide reimbursement in Thailand, noted Chedtha, “marking a historic milestone for many Thai patients.”
Meticuly’s IP - lining up to offer global access to 3D Printing Surgery
In 2025, Meticuly, which is a registered trademark, owns 71 intellectual property assets, including 45 patents in over 10 countries, 7 of which are registered through the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The company also holds over 15 technology trade secrets related to manufacturing parameters and AI, as well as several trademarks for their products and copyrights, Chedtha detailed.. The first two invention patent families were filed under the Chulalongkorn University name and were then licensed to Meticuly.
Chedhta and Boonrat, now 38 and 47 in 2025, “are passionate about helping as many people as possible, not just in Thailand. They envision a world where this technology is accessible to everyone in multiple countries. With advanced AI implant design, titanium printing, and a factory-in-a-box at the point of care, they believe that this technology is a step closer to becoming a standard for personalized treatment.”
3D printing is not only for titanium, bioprinting may be just around the corner, they predicted.
