Consumers expect customization, even in the medical office. Special tools can provide medical professionals with the technology they need to improve patient outcomes while minimizing cost and delays.
Nothing is more custom than a body. Although hearts and joints work in similar ways for different people, they are not always the same size or shape. When consumers look for increasingly personalized experiences, their interest does not stop when they seek medical help. Growing demands for customization create challenges in many industries, including medicine. By exploring the opportunities that technology generates for medical manufacturing, medical professionals can discover how these tools can enhance patient outcomes and ensure long-term satisfaction.
Trends Toward Mass Customization
Pressure to innovate for a custom experience comes from a variety of places. These trends drive manufacturers to search for the latest innovations that will help them provide a personalized product at a lower cost, with sustainable practices that can help to keep the business going.
Preference for Personalization
Mass production only works if the product fits the person who uses it. In medical manufacturing, personalization is key. A custom-fit component will work better, be less likely to fail and ultimately last longer than a one-size-fits-all part or device.
This trend falls in line with greater consumer expectations of personalization. McKinsey notes that nearly three in four consumers expect a personalized transaction, with a custom experience designed specifically for them. Technology that helps medical facilities achieve this goal can improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.
Economic Considerations
Economic factors affect how manufacturers choose suppliers, which materials they use and how they execute the manufacturing process. Inflation has raised the cost of materials, components and labor, putting pressure on manufacturers to decide whether to cut profit margins or raise prices on products.
Customization is still a key aspect of business success in production, but manufacturers must look for ways to provide greater personalization while meeting sales goals.
Sustainable Manufacturing Practices
The sustainability of any business practice creates a chopping block on which old, inefficient systems are cut. Manufacturers must be able to produce to meet demand, without having to cope with constant delays for materials or components in limited supply.
Supply chain shortages can bring manufacturing to a screeching halt, leading manufacturers to explore sustainable sources closer to home or even building components in-house. Optimization of all manufacturing systems leads to practices that can keep businesses resilient during times of global uncertainty.
Technological Innovations
Manufacturers face challenges that require them to optimize their processes for peak efficiency, and technology assists them in meeting modern manufacturing goals. The use of technology in manufacturing has changed radically in the past 20 years, providing the keys for greater production and customization under increasingly strained circumstances.
Businesses struggling to find qualified labor can rely on AI and automation to minimize the number of tasks they must complete. Implementation of the Internet of Things can help to keep equipment in top condition, to reduce downtime.
Market Opportunities
While many of manufacturing’s trends lean toward technology as a hedge against future problems, the integration of technology also poses several market opportunities. As customers increasingly demand personalization in every aspect of their interactions with businesses and organizations, companies that can provide customization stand to reap more rewards.
The use of technology to achieve customer goals can lead to greater demand for customized products in medical settings, in addition to the greater quality and viability of machine-produced medical components.
Technology Driving Customization
Mass production and customization may seem to be mutually exclusive, but recent technological developments have made both a possibility.
With these technologies, manufacturers of medical equipment and devices can provide peak customization without compromising volume in production.
AI
Artificial intelligence’s capacity to transform medical manufacturing creates interesting prospects for the future of this field. AI can build systems that optimize everything about the manufacturing process, from supply sourcing to component production, quality assurance, and product delivery.
The integration of AI into existing technology can minimize human error, ensuring a higher-quality product available for vital medical applications.
Automation
Automation has the potential to cut much of the costly overhead of manufacturing, leading to lower costs even on customized products. Robotics and industrial automation solutions can be instructed to follow strict regulations on product manufacturing, meeting even the most comprehensive standards.
Since they do not require breaks, automation systems can often produce much more than human-driven aspects of manufacturing. This integration can lead to improved production time for crucial parts for medical devices.
Internet of Things
Medical devices and equipment are subject to rigorous testing, but many manufacturers and medical professionals need technology to help them meet those standards.
The Internet of Things describes a collection of devices, equipment or systems that provide practical data about proper functions that humans can review. With a network of devices in the manufacturing process, companies can confirm that each system works according to specification and provides components of the highest quality.
3D Printing
Customization becomes much more accessible due to technology like 3D printing. This process uses additive manufacturing to custom-build a component to fit exact specifications. Printing a component from scratch allows manufacturers to bring many processes in-house, which can decrease cost and delivery intervals.
The application in medicine is notable, given that many people need custom components for the best health outcomes after the placement of a medical implant or device.
Medical technology has the potential to save lives, but it can also improve efficiency. By considering the benefits of new technology driving mass customization, medical professionals can understand how these tools can create high-quality, useful devices for medical applications.
