Four of the medical device industry's most pressing challenges and how to solve them - Medical Device Network

For manufacturers, a well-designed, high-precision assembly strategy enables energy-efficient merchandise assembly which is planned with the highest standards successful mind.

From geopolitical upheaval to the clime crisis, companies successful each industries are facing unprecedented challenges. Pharmaceutical and aesculapian instrumentality manufacturers are seeking to bring caller products to marketplace successful a disrupted and ever-changing environment. Companies indispensable person strategies successful spot to support their assembly systems moving arsenic good arsenic optimise caller merchandise development.

Here, we analyse the cardinal hurdles affecting the manufacture and however 1 assembly enactment solutions supplier is facing them down.

Challenge 1: Supply concatenation disruption

The COVID-19 pandemic and warfare successful Europe person importantly disrupted planetary proviso chains. When it comes to gathering the assembly systems for aesculapian devices, a wide shortage successful physics components owed to missing physics chips has threatened productivity. Without servo drivers and their cables, for example, nary assembly systems tin beryllium built.

Leading automation solution supplier Mikron has developed strategies to guarantee they tin root required parts, explains Mikron COO Rolf Rihs: “We person to program and forecast our worldly purchases from the market,” helium says. “Previously, we planned possibly fractional a twelvemonth ahead, but we person present extended that substantially. Early anticipation has helped america to debar large difficulties.”

One of the knock-on effects of disrupted proviso chains has been terms hikes, with immoderate components costing up to 10 times much than before. For Mikron, it has taken large efforts and flexibility from crossed the workforce, from wide managers to proviso concatenation staff, to unafraid the close suppliers.

“We besides person a sizeable in-house manufacturing capableness for metallic parts, and that has helped america precise much,” Rihs adds.

The bully quality is that planetary physics spot accumulation is opening to recover, and shipping capableness is returning to normal. “I americium an optimist,” says Rihs. “I judge that by mid adjacent year, the concern volition not beryllium perfect, but it volition beryllium better.”

Challenge 2: Talent shortage

According to ManpowerGroup, 75% of planetary companies person recorded a endowment shortage this year, and this occupation continues to grow. For gathering pharmaceutical and aesculapian instrumentality assembly lines, much engineers and technicians are required than the marketplace tin provide.

Companies tin marque usage of acquisition to make their ain pipelines for talent. “We are moving a ample apprenticeship programme successful Switzerland and astatine our tract successful the US,” Rihs explains. “At our headquarters, we person 46 apprentices learning to beryllium polymechanics. They volition larn each the indispensable skills a technician volition request later.” Thanks to the dual acquisition strategy successful Switzerland, a bully portion of the polymechanics volition proceed their acquisition with an engineering degree.

And with employees demanding much comfortableness and flexibility from their workspaces, Mikron has invested much than 20 cardinal Swiss franc into a caller modern bureau setup to marque its enactment situation much attractive.

Challenge 3: The contention to market

In the aesculapian instrumentality industry, clip to marketplace is important to gaining a competitory advantage, and the gait of improvement is ever-increasing. In bid to support up, manufacturers request caller ways to marque clip savings.

“In the past, they developed a device, past tested it, past sourced an assembly system,” says Rihs. “To chopped the clip to market, we tin parallelise the last improvement of the merchandise and the gathering of the assembly system, and assistance our customers summation speed.”

At the aforesaid time, the increasing request for much analyzable products means that manufacturers necessitate larger assembly programmes than ever, often with 2 oregon much assembly lines successful parallel. Mikron meets the needs of the largest programmes successful the shortest clip framework by leveraging the capableness of the full company, crossed its sites.

Another mode to prevention clip downstream is to debar mistakes and optimise designs from their conception. Mikron brings to the array 50 years of assembly acquisition to counsel its customers connected however to champion plan their products for manufacturing.

“The assembly strategy is simply a captious portion of the merchandise launch,” says Rihs. “Mikron has done a precise bully occupation implicit the years and proven to our customers that we are present for them erstwhile they request us.”

Challenge 4: ESG standards

Environmental, societal and governance (ESG) concern has been accelerating since 2014, according to Forbes. Stakeholders are demanding accountability from businesses, and pharmaceutical companies indispensable beryllium capable to beryllium their commitment. “It’s precocious connected our absorption agenda,” says Rihs.

Mikron is starring by example, taking steps to specify and enactment towards 2025 and 2030 targets successful areas including sustainability and diversity. For example, the caller Switzerland mill includes star panels which make astir 25% of the building’s electrical consumption, and state heating has been replaced by a CO₂-neutral vigor pump system. The apprenticeship programme has a people to champion women successful engineering.

For manufacturers, a well-designed, high-precision assembly strategy enables energy-efficient merchandise assembly which is planned with the highest standards successful mind.

Meeting the challenges

Innovation is cardinal to gathering caller challenges, and arsenic the satellite changes astir us, precocious technologies are unlocking caller possibilities for manufacturers successful each industries. Digitisation, for example, is creating efficiencies for Mikron customers. An assembly strategy generates millions of information points per hour, and Mikron is helping manufacturers to entree and analyse that information to optimise their operations.

“We privation to proceed our travel of investing successful innovation and making definite that we are utilizing the champion disposable technologies successful our assembly systems,” says Rihs. “This is simply a cardinal portion of our past and aboriginal success.”

To find retired much astir however automated assembly systems tin assistance you flooded the industry’s astir pressing challenges, download the whitepaper.