Design-to-green for medical device manufacturers

Introduction

The medical device industry is going through a period of major growth and change. The prevalence of chronic diseases, the increasing popularity of telemedicine and remote diagnostics and the rise of AI-powered patient monitoring systems all mean that there’s more focus than ever on making sure that doctors can keep up with new challenges. And the patients get the right treatment at the right time.

But there’s another part to this equation: sustainability. Patients want to know that their devices are made using materials that won’t harm them or the planet. Hospitals have set ambitious sustainability roadmaps and want to be able to dispose safely of old devices instead of disposing of them in landfills. Regulators want to make sure products are safe for consumers both now and in future generations – and the list goes on.

Medical device manufacturers are experiencing a moment of opportunity

If you’re a medical device manufacturer, or if you’re interested in the future of healthcare, this is an exciting time to be alive. Patients and physicians alike are demanding more sustainable products that deliver better results. At the same time, regulators are encouraging manufacturers to focus on these new priorities by creating incentives for innovation and making it easier than ever before for companies to get their products approved by FDA.

The result? A perfect storm of opportunity for companies that want to make a difference in this space.

Patients, hospitals and regulators all want to see increased sustainability and effectiveness from medical devices

Patients want to see more effective devices. As the population ages, there are more people who are living with long-term conditions. Such as diabetes or heart disease, that require regular treatment with medication or invasive equipment such as pacemakers or stents. Patients also increasingly understand their role in protecting the environment and becoming more active in reducing their carbon footprint.

Hospitals have sustainability targets that they need to meet. Reducing waste is one way for them to achieve this goal while at the same time improving patient care by using more sustainable products. In many cases, sustainably designed products last longer than disposable ones without compromising on quality of service provided by the organization’s medical staff (e.g. nurses, physician assistants, etc).

Regulators are also pushing for new norms regarding sustainable products/services. Which means that companies need innovation now more than ever before if they want to stay competitive within global markets.

There are many benefits of being environmentally conscious in your business

There are many benefits to start acting now. The market stakes are high: first movers will have an incentive to act, but there is also a risk to market access if regulations and customer behaviors change. Brand image is also at stake: green washing is no longer an option for customers, shareholders and employees. It has been proven that acting on the environment is a strong lever to attract and retain organizational talent. And finally, the stakes for R&D are substantial. Starting to act now will avoid future defensive and costly developments that will obstruct innovation when the constraints are too high.

Technology can help make devices more effective, sustainable, cost-effective and valuable

Technology can help to make devices more effective by improving the way they work. For example, sensors and software can be used to monitor and predict a patient’s physiological state. So that treatment can be delivered at exactly the right time. This means that treatments are only given when they’re needed – saving time and money while ensuring patients get the best possible care.

Technology can help to make devices more sustainable by reducing their environmental impact through increased energy efficiency or reduced waste generation (both from manufacturing and through end-of-life recycling). A device that uses less power than other similar products on the market will require less energy consumption which means less CO2 emitted into the atmosphere for electricity generation.

Design-to-green is a key part of the solution

Design-to-green is an approach to designing medical devices that anticipates future regulatory and market requirements for reducing their environmental impact. It’s also about making sure your product is valuable and effective in the marketplace, by integrating cost, regulatory constraints, market needs and sustainability into its development.

Design-to-green can help you avoid massive and unavoidable investment in redesigning products that are already on the market. It allows you to plan ahead so that when regulations change or new standards emerge from any number of sources (e.g. governmental agencies, industry trade groups, etc), your company won’t have to make major investments in redesigning existing products just because they aren’t sustainable enough yet.

In short: Designing green saves money today while helping avoid significant costs tomorrow!

Design-to-green integrates sustainability into the design processes and the organization and considers four aspects

• Measure the environmental footprint of products and solutions with a lifecycle analysis, using an easy-to-use and robust tool.
• Improve this footprint with concrete changes on technology and supply chain;
• Advertise these efforts on the market;
• Anchor design-to-green culture and ways of working throughout the organization.

Conclusion

The time for Design-to-Green has arrived for medical device manufacturers. Sustainability is no longer an option in the industry: not only are there opportunities, but more importantly, companies that are stagnant will bear more and more risk as market demand and regulations increase. Technology is part of the solution and design-to-green, combining sustainability and cost aspects early in the design process, allows manufacturers to prepare for changes that they may not yet be aware of but that have significant business implications.