Outsourcing all or part of your production to a contract manufacturing organisation of medical devices may be a big step, but there are definite advantages to working with a CMO, who can provide expert advice and work alongside your company to make the best of your ideas.
Costs for smaller original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as new equipment, can be prohibitive, and restrict the ability to invest in other areas of the company. Partnering with a CMO that has extensive experience with medical devices guarantees your company access to all its expertise, including highly skilled staff and engineers, and the latest process technology. Outsourcing manufacturing also alleviates the necessity of maintenance or upgrading of equipment costs. No expensive loans or leasing, and no additional running costs such as training, building maintenance or energy.
Many CMOs offer a complete end-to-end service, from design, manufacturing, product assembly, quality control and packing. Some even offer storage and dispatch solutions. This can help not only with storage costs, but also for when capacity changes, whether that’s a peak or a trough.
In terms of quality, products need to be fully compliant with all national and international standards, and compliance with multiple standards is vital in a global marketplace. An experienced company will be fully versed in this extremely critical area.
Working with a good CMO is not only a way to make your business more efficient and profitable. By partnering with a firm that you can trust, you can move forward with innovative ideas and work together to develop them.
Partnering with a smaller CMO
Custom Wire Technologies (CWT) is a Wisconsin-based firm that is a “one-stop shop for OEMs seeking precision medical wire products,” says company founder and president, Bob Boldig. Founded in 2002, the company started out making coils, but as the firm evolved, it added more vertically integrated value-added services.
CWT has less than 100 employees and Boldig believes this small, personal service is an advantage for its customers: “The thing that I think separates us from a lot of companies, certainly the bigger OEMs, is that we’re very nimble and quick to respond.”
CWT’s Qwikcoil program is a popular offering with R&D engineers. Being able to deliver up to 20 customised coils in one week or less is something the industry has never seen before. “Most of our customers who are manufacturing catheters don’t have the capability to produce coils,” points out Boldig. “Offering this program allows them to build prototypes much faster for their customers. It was designed with engineers looking to make quick prototypes in mind.
“People know that they can come to CWT and we’re going to respond very quickly, particularly compared to some of the bigger players that do this work who may have larger backlogs.”
Of CWT, Boldig says: “We offer full-service grinding and we have added to the grinding and coiling operations a lot of peripheral services such as plasma welding, laser welding, soldering, and bonding with adhesives. We also do laser marking and laser identification, and some media blasting and heat setting.”
Boldig explains his vision behind CWT: “I just kept hearing the same common theme, that a significant number of OEMs were doing a lot of this work themselves. I saw a need for a company that could fit into the niche market and provide services to these device manufacturers.”
Find out more by downloading the whitepaper below.
