Money in bones: German company leads the way in anatomical models

By Stephanie Lettgen Sep 22, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Hamburg - Dozens of human skeletons stand in tightly compacted lines in an inconspicuous building in Hamburg. Countless numbers of hand, arm and leg bones protrude from cardboard boxes.

But this is not a serial killer's workshop or the entrance to a chamber of horrors. The bones are made of plastic and were manufactured by the firm 3B Scientific, which claims to be the leading provider of anatomical models in the world.

Skeletons, torsos and models of human organs are sent from Hamburg to schools, universities and doctors' surgeries in over 100 countries.

The best selling product in 3B Scientific's range is 'Stan.' The 1.70-metre-tall human skeleton has been the company's standard model for over 50 years. The parts, however, are not made in Germany, but in China and Hungary. About 25,000 'Stans' will be sold this year.

The upmarket version, 'Sam', will be sold about 5,000 times in 2011. 'Sam' has flexible joint ligaments, hand-painted muscle origins, a flexible vertebral column and a built-in slipped disk. 'He can even laugh,' says company manager Otto Gies, who winks as he moves the skeleton's jaws.

Evelin Porsch is responsible for assembling the skeletons' bones. She deftly slides a washer between a skeleton's hip and leg joints and then secures them into position with a nut. 'I can make about 12 skeletons a day,' says Porsch as she picks up a plastic thigh bone.

Skeletons are 3B Scientific's best-selling item. But the company has many more products in its range: eyes with eyelids and tear ducts that can be disassembled; brains that come in several sections; and malignant tumours that can be felt on breast models.

There's even a birthing simulator. Artificial amniotic fluid and umbilical cords are also in 3B Scientific's catalogue.

Philip Uebelacker is responsible for attaching muscles. The 25-year-old is heating an arm in a huge oven heated to 80 degrees Celsius so the plastic material is easier to shape. He's been working here for 18 months and is quite comfortable with his rather unusual job.

'It's routine,' he says as he takes a few muscles and mounts them on a still-warm arm.

A few metres away is the 'Baby Factory'. Seven small torsos lie side by side on a table. Beate Stiller is using an electric screwdriver to attach a stomach to one of the torsos. It takes one hour to assemble a model baby and place it in a bag for transport to its owner.

3B Scientific has been in operation since 1948. About 600 people work for the company around the world, 200 of them in Germany. Together with the factory in Hamburg, the company has two subsidiaries in eastern Germany and is planning to open more subsidiaries in Africa and Indonesia.

'We're growing very rapidly in Brazil, India and South East Asia,' says Gies.