The Right Resources Equal Perfect Prototyping

As with most things in life, success comes from striking the right balance. The same is true for prototyping in orthopedics, according to a panel of industry experts.

In the rush to reduce time to market, a robust prototyping capability is key. It’s an important balance of lead times on projects while meeting customers’ growing demands to create a device or component that is as close as possible to the finished product. It’s also a critical factor in design for manufacturability.

“You have to make sure the right resources—people and technical—are being used,” said Peter Browne, sales engineer for FMI Medical Instruments in Madison, Ala. “We’re trying to reduce the number of operations and increase quality and manufacturability.”

Browne said his firm’s clients are requesting “shorter windows” for prototyping projects.

“You’ve got to have resources readily available,” he said. “And you’ve got to keep communicating with the client. That’s a must.”

Jonathan Blocker, account manager for Holt, Mich.-based Orchid Orthopedic Solutions, agreed that prototyping doesn’t occur in isolation. Frequent interaction with clients improves the potential for a seamless outcome.

“You’ve got to have engineers that, of course, are good at what they do, but you also need to have them communicate well with the customer; it makes a significant difference,” he told the audience during the first day of the Orthopedic Design & Technology Conference and Exhibition. “We’re ready to help clients through multiple iterations. Our real cost savings comes with ensuring that the design transfer goes smoothly.”

And that communication happens much faster now than it did in the past, according to Mark Michael, president and chief operating officer of Fort Wayne Metals in Fort Wayne, Ind.

“Today, things that used to take weeks to go through the feedback loop are happening daily—and with multiple iterations,” he explained. “The back and forth between all the different parties involved goes quickly. The right technology puts all those pieces together.”

Making sure the prototype is as close as possible to a part or device that’s ready to go into production is key for OEMs today, said H. W. “Andy” Anderson, director of operations for Austin, Texas-based startup Wenzel Spine Inc. Anderson, who moderated the panel discussion, said. “That time to market consideration, in some cases, can be more valuable than cost.” he added.

Orchid’s Blocker said the push for manufacturability starts on day one.

“We’ve developed a way to audit the product that is being presented to us. From the beginning, whether it’s a prototype or a larger products, we start with manufacturability in mind,” he explained. “At the end of every phase, we evaluate if it is a doable project. Many times we’ll have to go back the drawing board. Sometimes we have to go back to the OEM and say, ‘Here’s your design, but this may not be the best for production.”