Company insight
Expertise and experience Beyond having the capacity and equipment to produce the components required for medical devices, another key characteristic that sets ideal suppliers apart is the experience and specific areas of expertise they have developed. Issues will always arise over the course of the product development process, so by having a supplier that is experienced in working with customers to minimise such disruptions can be the key to lowering costs and quickly getting back on track. Equally in the long term, it is likely a product will evolve or be updated. Therefore, the more experienced a supplier is in their specialist area, the more support and guidance they can provide to help ensure such changes are carried out safely, efficiently and effectively.
Having manufactured medical device components such as medical coils for over two decades, CWT has expanded its customer base to include some of the largest OEMs within the sector, producing a wide range of components for catheters and guidewires.
Laser marking is one of the many value-add services offered.
their ability respond to changing demand. As levels of demand can fluctuate, the ability of a chosen supplier to rapidly ramp up production and respond to a sudden spike can be critical when ensuring an OEM is able to capitalise. The helpful indicators to look for when assessing a potential supplier’s ability to do this, is their relationship with material suppliers, the amount of additional
“When this company was started, the slogan was ‘a new day has dawned on customer service’. We still believe that today.”
“We have been making coils for over 20 years and have seen a multitude of applications using numerous sizes of materials, making thousands of sized and shaped coils,” explains Boldig. “Our manufacturing experience give us the upfront knowledge as to what works and what doesn’t.”
The ability to meet tight deadlines While the short-term priority when selecting a supplier will typically be ensuring they can provide the components to meet the specifications of a medical device, the key to a successful long-term partnership will be dictated by
manufacturing capacity they have and an ability to shorten lead times.
Having identified a clear demand for rapid turnaround in the long-term, CWT has now launched the QwikCoil programme, offering customers guaranteed delivery of its coil components within only a week. “People know that they can come to us and we’re going to respond very quickly compared to some of the bigger players that do this work and may have larger backlogs,” says Boldig.
High quality customer service Last but by no means least, the thread that ties together all the technical and operational aspects of a customer and
supplier relationship is the ability to ensure customer service is of the highest quality. They must be able to build a close working relationship and have an in-depth understanding of the product that the customer is manufacturing, but also know how they operate so that they can provide support throughout the process. The closer the bond becomes between the two, the better prepared the supplier can be to respond to changes in design or to identify and overcome any challenge that might arise. Having started out as a company that serviced the need for OEMs to outsource work that was not core to their capabilities, despite its growth CWT has ensured that it has not lost that focus of customer-centricity.
“When this company was started, the slogan was ‘a new day has dawned on customer service’. We still believe that today,” says Boldig.
Value-add services
CWT offers a full suite of assembly capabilities that utilise laser welding, plasma welding, medical grade adhesives, and crimping techniques to mechanically bond components. Additional value-added services include laser marking, pad printing, wire EDM cutting, passivation and electropolishing. Using strategic suppliers, CWT can add PTFE coatings to most of the products it manufactures and can also selectively grind the coating away to meet design requirements. Having many of these services in-house allows CWT to offer competitive pricing and shorter lead times for its medical devices. ●
CWT offers a vast array of precision medical device components. Medical Device Developments /
www.nsmedicaldevices.com
www.customwiretech.com 103
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