In this episode of The Better Product Solutions Podcast, we speak with Bill Sullivan, Executive Vice President, Business and Technology Discovery at FLEXcon. In this podcast, Bill gives us a breakdown of more functional technologies to films and coatings, some of the capabilities bringing new technology to the forefront and how to help brand owners launch products faster.

On a recent episode of our Better Product Solution Podcast, 3M’s Senior Product Development Engineer Bret Ludwig joined us to talk about advancements and opportunities in wearable skin tape and adhesives. One of the many fascinating topics that he discussed was how challenging it can be for a product to stick to skin. Here’s a quick clip.

Telemedicine was already on the rise even before COVID-19 hit. However, it’s one thing for a medical professional to consult with a patient virtually – it’s a bigger challenge to perform diagnostics and monitoring from a distance. As our population grows and ages, along with the increasing rates of chronic health issues, our healthcare system is at risk of being overwhelmed. One strategy to keep up with demand and reduce overall cost is with remote patient monitoring.

Cleanliness and contamination have taken on completely new meanings in 2020. However, these ideas have always been important in the manufacturing realm – and not necessarily to prevent the spread of viruses. When making products with sensitive components or to strict industry regulations, finding a reliable and certified cleanroom manufacturing partner is critical to your success.

Medical knowledge and technology have advanced at incredible rates. Many of today’s routine tests and procedures would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago. Yet with all the innovation, people are still the heart of our medical care. And that means human error is always a possibility. Take, for instance, the field of spinal surgery. According to a 2014 survey by the North American Spine Society (NASS), 68% of respondents stated that at some point in their careers, they performed either wrong-level exposures or wrong-level surgeries on the spine. Not only can inaccurate procedures be extremely harmful to patients but resulting lawsuits can result in damages over $1 million. Mistakes can happen in any area of medicine. While there are numerous factors that can cause them, many are preventable. One strategy is improving the accuracy of testing and procedures with radiopaque markers.

There’s an old saying, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” In other words, when faced with two good options, you must choose one – you can’t have both. How does this relate to product design and manufacturing? Well, for some time, there were two distinct camps of electronics: conventional rigid circuits and flexible printed circuits. The former delivered higher performance while the latter offered a more pliable form factor. However, a new option has emerged: flexible hybrid electronics (FHE). This rapidly developing technology is expected to reach a value of over $3 billion by 2020 (IDTechEx).

When working on a medical device, we are often so focused on our specific task or responsibility, it can be easy to lose sight of where your efforts fit into the big picture. But the reality is, what you’re making is being used in the real world by real people – whether directly by a patient or to help a medical professional do their job more effectively or efficiently. To keep this in perspective, here are a few common medical device components and the value that they provide.  

What if there was a way to ensure product quality and safety during shipping, prolong shelf life of perishable goods, and gather valuable data from your supply chain and consumers? It may all sound too good to be true – but in fact, it’s possible with smart packaging technology. The world of packaging has evolved beyond standard cardboard boxes and plastic containers. A rapidly growing market, the demand for smart packaging is expected to grow from $15.1 billion in 2016 to $23.7 billion by 2023.

After years of R&D, multiple rounds of clinical trials, and a rigorous FDA approval process, a medical product has yet another daunting challenge before it can be used by a patient – surviving transportation. Due to the temperature sensitivity of many medical supplies, shipping around the world can be a logistical and financial burden. It’s estimated that 70% of leading pharmaceutical products require temperature-controlled transportation, and that 20% of products are ruined due to a broken cold chain.

For the inaugural episode of the Better Product Solutions Podcast, Steve is joined by Len Allison from Engineered Material Systems to discuss flexible printed electronics, changes in materials, ASTM standards and the overall durability characteristics that make this a reality. Watch the video or read the full conversation transcript.