{"id":9883,"date":"2021-11-18T08:09:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T16:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qad.com\/blog\/?p=9883"},"modified":"2022-08-03T10:19:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T17:19:31","slug":"navigating-disruption-in-medtech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qad.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/navigating-disruption-in-medtech","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Disruption in MedTech"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9886″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]\u201cOur biggest challenge was not maintaining production and operations during the pandemic \u2013 but it\u2019s today, managing the impact of the aftershocks.\u201d<\/i><\/b> <\/i>\u2013 Joanne Mavroides, Director Supply Chain & Logistics at Abiomed<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The medtech industry association, MassMEDIC, recently held a \u201cVirtual Supplier Showcase\u201d event. As an associate member, QAD sponsored an insightful panel discussion, which I was delighted to moderate alongside industry giants Max Kley, CEO of <\/span>Freudenberg Medical<\/span><\/a> and Joanne Mavroides, Director Supply Chain & Logistics at <\/span>Abiomed<\/span><\/a>. The discussion dove deep into the state of the medtech supply chain and manufacturing. Here\u2019s an abridged version of the discussion, highlighting the key takeaways you need to know in the areas of People, Process and Systems.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”9884″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

People<\/span><\/h2>\n

Here we are today, 18 months from the start of the pandemic. B<\/span>ut first, let\u2019s take a quick step back and look at the early days of 2020, when we saw extraordinary <\/span>collaboration across industries<\/span><\/a> to produce PPE, ventilators and sanitizers that were all in short supply.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you share how you collaborated with suppliers, partners, customers or even competitors? How did you work together to serve and deliver products that were needed most?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Joanne:<\/b> \u201cAbiomed delivered over $1M worth of PPE to local hospitals in the Boston area and we continue that line of communication and support to this day. Our devices are also assisting COVID patients today experiencing heart failure and heart related issues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Max:<\/b> \u201cFreudenberg<\/span> is a key supplier and provider of medical equipment and components that support COVID patients, and continue to provide these critical, lifesaving products.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Processes<\/span><\/h2>\n

Supply chain disruptions have been a common theme throughout the last 18 months \u2013 from <\/span>chip shortages<\/span><\/a> to limited and sometimes non-existent shipping containers to the great toilet paper crisis. And new ones are popping up daily, from the Texas ice storm earlier this year, to mudslides in northern Germany and government embargos. Max referred to it as a game of \u201cWhack-A-Mole,\u201d where as soon as you have one issue resolved, another one rears its head.<\/span><\/p>\n

How have you been impacted and how have you responded? Have the past 18 months caused you to reevaluate suppliers, processes, partners? What risk mitigation measures have you implemented as a result?\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Joanne:<\/b> \u201cAbiomed has always had robust risk mitigation strategies in place. However, today, we\u2019ve had to re-evaluate those strategies and rethink new ways of working. One of the key learnings we\u2019ve applied is evaluating and prioritizing our risks based on the number of variables. For example, in some areas where we have a single-source supplier, we\u2019ve had to increase collaboration with that partner and better understand their risk mitigation strategies. With other partners we had to renegotiate agreements to ensure they have a 12-month supply of certain materials, or set-up Kanban agreements. In other areas, we\u2019ve had to establish dual-sourcing strategies in order to reduce dependency on a single geographical location.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Max:<\/b> \u201cFor Freudenberg Medical, as one of the largest elastomer providers in the world, we were able to respond to the supply chain issues more successfully than some of the smaller players. Being part of a larger company, with access to a broader network of resources, provided us the flexibility we needed to stay resilient. For example, maintaining 3-6 months of safety-stock for certain medical products was very important. Our colleagues in the automotive division unfortunately don\u2019t have the ability to maintain inventories given the just-in-time strategies required for their business. Flexibility is key, as much as you can given the regulatory regulatory requirements of our industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Systems<\/span><\/h2>\n

Given our strict regulatory requirements, once systems and processes are validated and proven to be safe and effective, change is very difficult \u2013 it takes a lot of time and resources. In this regard, life sciences companies tend to be laggards relative to other industries adopting the latest and greatest software applications. However, one of the silver linings of the pandemic, because of the shutdowns and remote work, has been an acceleration of technology adoption. Even the FDA has been working hard \u2013 with the Case for Quality, Computer System Assurance initiatives starting even prior to the pandemic \u2013 to make it easier for manufacturers to adopt new technology and take a more risk-based approach. And now, with the creation of <\/span>the Office of Digital Transformation<\/span><\/a>, even the FDA is looking to go further and broader with digital solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you speak to your digital transformation journey \u2013 where you were before, and where you are now from a technology perspective, and how did it help your organizations \u201cstay operational\u201d during the pandemic and navigate post-pandemic challenges?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Thankfully, both Abiomed and Freudenberg Medical had already started their journey of transformation, establishing best practices around enterprise systems such as ERP to manage all of their manufacturing and supply chain work flows remotely. In addition, leveraging <\/span>cloud-based ERP<\/span><\/a> applications further enhanced their ability to not only manage production orders and supply chain materials, but also to relieve constrained IT resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Freudenberg was also able to leverage IoT platforms to connect, monitor, and diagnose issues within their equipment and provide maintenance and upgrades remotely with technicians from Germany when travel was limited. This is an area they plan to expand to other machines and equipment in additional plants around the world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Abiomed,<\/span> Impella Connect<\/span><\/a> was established to improve the patient experience by connecting doctors directly to the healthcare environment using cloud-based systems and remote access. Prior to the pandemic, hospitals had very few IT resources to roll out programs like this at scale, so very few physicians were using it. But today, post-pandemic, nearly 90% of Abiomed\u2019s hospitals are now connected in secure, protected environments, <\/span>and leveraging AI to provide predictive information about pump and patient metrics to help guide clinical decision-making. <\/span>The platform has also been extended to include frontline customer service representatives as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re navigating unprecedented times, experiencing challenges never seen before. What are some of the lessons learned and takeaways from this? Where do we go from here?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n