Strategic Material Selection Lowers Costs for Healthcare Manufacturers
Material selection has lasting implications throughout a product’s life cycle, which is why choosing the right material at the beginning of the development process is imperative to creating a successful product.
Healthcare manufacturers especially need to consider each material’s availability, physical properties and ability to pass final device regulatory testing. Minimizing the risk of finished medical device stockouts is critical especially for life-preserving devices and for the OEM’s brand. Evaluating the raw material supply chain for security is an important step to optimizing costs. Failing to factor in these key considerations can negatively impact a new product development program and add time, increase expenses, and impede future profitability.
Look Downfield to Reduce Costs
Josh Blackmore, Global Healthcare Manager at M. Holland, advises healthcare manufacturers to “look downfield” from the very beginning of the product development process to shorten time-to-market, reduce eventual manufacturing costs and protect future availability.
“In American football, we have quarterbacks. The best ones are always looking downfield for an opportunity to make a longer play. In manufacturing, looking downfield means not developing products in a vacuum,” Josh explained.
Design engineers are very skilled at developing a product for fit, form and function, but are more likely to score a product development touchdown with a full product team behind them.
Pick a Winning Development Team
To reap the benefits of concurrent lean engineering design, gather all stakeholders together at the start. Early collaboration results in a better and more secure material selection process, reduces costs, and can significantly lower time spent on trial-and-error testing.
“To ensure future longevity, start development from day one with a cross-functional team. An engineer creates the product. A medical resin specialist provides recommendations and material knowledge. A regulatory expert keeps products in compliance with regional mandates. A marketing expert provides branding expertise. And a manufacturer ensures the device can be made. Taking the time to gather critical inputs can reduce time-to-market and improve the cost profile of the final product,” Josh said.
Most medical OEMs have fewer than 100 employees on staff, typically including design engineering, regulatory and marketing employees. Even if the eventual manufacturing of a product will be outsourced, experts should be included upfront to uncover manufacturing realities and challenges. Medical resin specialists can be hard to come by, but they provide key insights into medical-grade resins such as their manufacturing location, popularity in the market and availability. Distribution partners like M. Holland have medical resin experts that can fill the specialist role during product development and beyond.
Choose Best Fit Materials
Material selection influences each step in the product development process through concept, commercialization and end of device life. For example, according to Josh, material selection influences:
- Fitness for testing and sampling
- Future availability in the manufacturing region
- Benefits such as lowered costs and improved performance
- Impact on sustainable material goals
- ISO 10993 biocompatibility testing results
- Notification of change agreements
- Ability to combine parts or lightweight the new device
- Overall quality of the final product
A medical resin specialist’s deep knowledge of medical-grade materials helps manufacturers avoid common or anticipated device failures such as frequent chemical disinfection issues or yellowing under UV or gamma. With a specialist’s guidance, healthcare manufacturers can select materials stocked in high volumes to reduce sampling and manufacturing costs. But the benefits of a thorough material selection process do not stop after the product has gone to market.
Protect Future Profitability
Challenges related to material selection often don’t surface until years after a product’s launch, especially during times like COVID-19, which limited the availability of various resources. Other circumstances, like hurricanes, force majeures, overseas shipping and other disruptions, can also cause stockouts.
Nearly all material shortages can be solved by holding safety stock, but this comes with a cost. Selecting market-popular grades and collaborating with a distribution partner to stock material can smooth the manufacturing and purchasing processes. Including a material specialist on the new product development team can help you avoid costly selection mistakes by understanding where the resin is made. For example, a resin made in the same country as your manufacturing operations will be easier to secure than one that is only made in one plant across the world. Material specialists can also provide guidance to avoid or plan for known risks such as poor market acceptance. Recognizing risks help OEMs formulate effective contingency plans to safeguard material availability.
Optimized Material Selection Is Worth the Investment
“Choosing a material to represent your product and your brand should not be done lightly,” Josh said. “With careful consideration and the right team by your side, the decision you make now can help ensure your future profitability. Material selection is one of the most impactful decisions the new product development team can make. Optimizing material selection at the beginning of the process is the lowest cost action you can take.”
M. Holland’s Healthcare team provides medical-grade resin expertise to OEMs and manufacturers to help create safe medical devices and improve supply chain security. Visit the Healthcare market page for more information about M. Holland’s expertise, services and materials.