Perhaps one of the most common mistakes that new companies in the medical device industry make is to not involve engineers and designers from the contract manufacturing company in during the initial planning and concept development phase of a project.
This is a costly mistake in many different ways for a company. To understand the importance of involving an experienced, full-service company manufacturing medical device components in early in the process, a closer look at potential problems will be helpful.
Understanding Possibilities
With new technology in CNC equipment, virtually any shape or design that can be considered can be produced by an experienced CNC precision machining service. A key component of that statement is that it can be produced, not that it is going to provide a durable part or that the cost of production will be reasonable given the budget constraints of the project.
By working with the company manufacturing the medical device components, these expert engineers and designers can work with your in-house team to discuss costs effective changes to the early design that limit time wasted on pursuing design elements that are not feasible.
Selecting Materials
In addition to providing assistance with the design of medical device components, these same engineers can be instrumental in helping to choose the best materials. In some cases, it may be an alloy such as stainless steel or titanium, but it may also be a resin or plastic that is less likely to be reactive in the body if it is an implantable device.
With experience in working with different materials as well as a complete understanding of the regulations and restrictions on materials for specific types of medical devices, the engineers from the medical contract machining service can offer options to lower the cost of production while possibly even extending the lifecycle of the device.
