Medical device manufacturing today means you not only need to produce parts, but also the data that supports the parts.
As a manufacturer, it’s essential to know which data points a customer needs at the start of a project so the right data is collected throughout production.
Pre-production meetings are one of the best ways to gather this information and also reveal any potential roadblocks to manufacturing. They take place at the start of a project, and in typically one hour or less, help everyone in the room have a better understanding of the design and data requirements of a device.
In the January/February edition of Orthopedic Design & Technology, we shared a Smarter Engineering column about the value that pre-production meetings bring to manufacturers and customers.
“Three Steps to Improve the Manufacturing Process with Pre-Production Meetings” discusses the manufacturer and customer benefits of pre-production meetings, as well as how these meetings operate. There are three main steps to setting up and hosting a meeting:
- Inviting the right people to participate.
- Preparing to discuss design questions and requirements.
- Meeting to review design requirements, drawings, inspection requirements and purchasing details.
Our customers routinely mention how valuable they find pre-production meetings because the conversation goes beyond a simple design review or design for manufacturing.
The article shares some of the benefits and insights that Lowell and our customers have gathered with this practice. For example:
- By investing an hour of time for this meeting at the beginning of the project, it’s possible to save hours of discussions and design iterations later.
- It’s essential that engineering, quality and production reps from both the manufacturer and customer attend the pre-production meeting to learn what the other needs for the device to be successful.
- Having a physical sample of the device at the meeting can clarify questions that require a visual reference point.
Make sure to check out the article to learn more about how pre-production meetings can improve medical device manufacturing. Or, contact us to talk about how this process can help improve your results.
