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The advancement of biomedical technologies is fast becoming an integral part of the medical industry and medical device manufacturing. The rapid pace of technological innovation for medical devices and its significant benefits aids the manufacturing of medical devices. Medical devices, like other manufacturing processes, require complex and efficient steps.
However, the manufacturing process of these medical devices comes with significant challenges. In some cases, these challenges are heightened by mistakes on the part of manufacturers. Either way, it is vital for all manufacturers, and all stakeholders in the medical device industry must learn about these challenges and how to overcome them. Read on to find out.
1. High Product Design and Development Cost
Product design and development is a vital step in medical device manufacturing. The major challenge with this step is its high cost. It requires quite a lot of money to take the device idea from design to actual realization. However, this cost can be managed and reduced to ease marketing and improve ROI.
How To Overcome High Product Design and Development Cost
You can reduce the high cost of design and development by setting a solid foundation for the design project with concise and clear requirement specifications. The manufacturers need to broaden their knowledge of the requirement to focus heavily on user needs and improved ROI.
Other ways to overcome this high cost include;
- Concentrate more effort in the planning stage
- Repurpose designs and don’t be rigid with development
- Reduce prototyping and prune marketing spend
- Ensure good project management
2. Complexity in Tech Partnership
Medical device manufacturing is a merge of two industries; technological and medical industry. Finding the right balance between the two industries can be a significant challenge. Also, finding the right partnership for functional and economic needs might be difficult. Bringing together two companies from different industries faces the problem of disparate systems, different cultures, and communication strategies.
How to Overcome Complexity in Tech Partnership
Manufacturers of medical devices can leverage medical solutions to foster better cooperation with tech companies. In addition, focusing on partnerships with high-tech companies makes it easier to break into the market compared to tech startups.
Finding and patterning only tech companies with similar goals will make bringing innovations into the market more accessible. Also, using MES with acquisitions and partnerships can aid visibility, collaboration, analytics, and coordinative manufacturing operation across the entire partner ecosystem.
3. Global Differences and Regulatory Environment
Regulations and government policies in different parts of the world are significant challenges in the medical device industry. For example, with several regulations such as EU MDR, every manufacturer needs to do much more to match quality and regulation inspections.
How to Overcome Global Differences and Regulatory Environment
First, the manufacturers must understand the quality requirements and government regulations worldwide. They should also focus on product quality and compliance. Similarly, manufacturers should ensure accurate data collection and analytics throughout the production cycle with regulatory bodies’ quality metrics in mind.
4. Intelligent Data Analytics
Data is a critical part of every production channel. Medical device manufacturing companies’ massive amount of data poses a serious challenge. These data are vital for creating policies, executing innovative ideas, and improving ROI. Every step from data collection, analysis, and result presentation can be a severe concern in the medical manufacturing industry.
How to Overcome Intelligent Data Analytics
Overcoming the challenge of intelligent data analytics requires calculative and precise steps. Manufacturers should start by shifting attention from paper documents to using metrics generated from the core value chain. Also, it is crucial to have standardized data across the entire industry to improve performance. Automating data collection processes, creating variable data formats, ensuring consistency in analyzing product performance, and evaluating operational information are effective ways to overcome the problem of intelligent data analytics.
5. Value-based Manufacturing and Healthcare Pressure
Like every other industry, the medical manufacturing industry also aims to make considerable ROI. However, they face the challenge of balancing their value-based manufacturing process with creating an impressive ROI. The manufacturers are under pressure to put patient healthcare and outcomes at the forefront of their production.
How to Overcome Value-based Manufacturing and Healthcare Pressure
Manufacturers of medical devices can overcome this challenge by driving cost-efficiency in production. Manufacturers must implement outcome-based models and cost control that supports flexibility across production. Considering the trends in the medical device industry, it is clear that a value-based manufacturing process is inevitable.
6. Accelerated Product Innovation
Rapid medical device advancements can be a significant challenge when it is time for manufacturers to keep up. Besides the considerable competition, the emerging trends of wearable medical tech devices with rising health demands can be a massive gap to bridge. Therefore, medical device manufacturers must accelerate product innovation to meet the high market speed, intelligent product design, lower cost, better performance, and more solution offerings.
How to Overcome Accelerated Innovation
Manufacturers must learn to meet the rising demand and trends in the medical device market. Consistent research, user engagement, and efficiency are great ways to keep up with accelerated product innovation. Companies can also create strategies to speed up new product innovation and ensure a closed-loop manufacturing process. Creating a collaborative environment for manufacturing will also help to overcome the problem.
Conclusion
Challenges are inevitable in every manufacturing industry, including medical devices. Interestingly, overcoming these problems does not require magical wands. Instead, careful evaluation, analysis, and execution of the process usually offer an easy way out.