Engineers love solving problems. But sometimes they’re solving problems that didn’t need to exist in the first place.
We’ve seen it happen more than once. A customer brings us a medical device design that works well on the bench and everyone is excited, but they have no idea how it can be manufactured.
Figuring out how to manufacture a medical device is much easier, and much less expensive, to figure out at the beginning of a project than at the end.
Manufacturing Doesn’t Start at Design Transfer
A common misconception is that manufacturability isn’t worth considering until you have functional prototypes. In reality, the earliest decisions in the medical device development process should keep manufacturability in mind.
The materials you choose. The number of components. How parts fit together. Even the tolerances you specify and how you’ll inspect the finished device. All of these design decisions have a ripple effect throughout the entire development program.
That’s why we like getting involved early. It’s a lot more fun (and cost effective) to prevent manufacturing dead ends than to try and correct them six months later.
Small Decisions Become Big Problems
On their own, most design decisions seem reasonable. Then issues start stacking up and compounding.
A tolerance that’s tighter than necessary. An extra component that could have been eliminated. A material that’s difficult to source. A bond that’s impossible to inspect without destroying the device.
None of these may seem like a major issue by themselves, but together they can make a device far more difficult (and therefore expensive) to manufacture. All of them can be prevented with proper design for manufacturing.
Five Things We Think About Early
Every project is different, but these are some of the first questions our engineers ask.
Does this part really need to be this complicated?
Simpler medical device designs are often easier to manufacture, inspect, and assemble. They also tend to be more reliable.
How will this be assembled?
Whether it’s bonding, laser welding, heat forming, over molding, or crimping, manufacturing should be considered while the design is still flexible.
Is this the right material?
Not just for performance, but for processing, availability, sterilization, and long-term supply.
Are these tolerances helping the device, or just making machining harder?
Every tight tolerance comes with a cost. We want precision where it matters and practicality everywhere else.
How will we know every device meets specifications?
If a critical feature can’t be measured consistently, maintaining quality becomes much more difficult.
The Earlier These Questions are Asked, the Better
Making changes during concept development is usually straightforward.
Making the same changes after tooling, verification testing, or clinical trials? Not so much.
Late design changes often mean additional testing, schedule delays, higher costs, and more work for everyone involved. We’d all rather spend that time building the next great device.
Why We Like Getting Involved Early
At Medical Murray, we spend our days building some pretty challenging medical devices. That experience gives our engineers a different perspective during product development.
When we review a concept, we’re already thinking several steps ahead:
- “Can we build this consistently?”
- “Is there a simpler way to accomplish the same goal?”
- “Can we inspect it?”
- “Will this process scale?”
Those are our favorite conversations.
Great Devices Aren’t Just Designed. They’re Designed to Be Manufactured.
Innovation is exciting. Getting that innovation into production is where the real engineering begins.
The best medical devices balance clinical performance with practical manufacturing. When those two come together early in development, projects move faster, costs stay under control, and the transition into production becomes much smoother.
That’s the kind of engineering we enjoy.
Have a medical device concept you’d like to bring to market? We can help. Contact Medical Murray today for comprehensive medical device development, design, and manufacturing services.