November - 20208 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSBy Janna Parks, Sr. Director, Customer Quality & Compliance, Abbott [NYSE:ABT]IN MY OPINIONTHE INNOVATION PROCESS: DEVELOPING LIFE SAVING MEDTECHExciting advancements in today's medical device industry bring better opportunities to diagnose, treat, and enhance patients' lives but demand agility in the manufacturing environment. Challenges common in all industries have an additional layer of complexity for medical device companies due to the ever-changing regulatory landscape. Typical cost improvement and efficiency models that allow companies to stay current and maintain the relevance of products in the market are offset by approval times and submission requirements required for medical device innovation.Beyond the standard supply chain challenges surrounding inventory management, manufacturers also struggle with hardware obsolescence and support for existing technologies. As such, there is an increasing need for last-time purchases of component inventory to support production while the new product is in development. This adds a burden to a company's ability to manage the buying of outlays and reduce carry-over inventory expenses.Stronger regulations for medical device approvals ensure product safety and protect users ­ which is good. However, these increasing requirements do not come without a cost of their own. Current medical device industry trends with advanced technologies include smart devices, wearable devices, less invasive surgical techniques, rapid diagnostic tools, and many more. Each of these incredible advancements in the industry requires time for testing and approval before it can Janna Parks
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