ELOS-Proposed-Logos-NEW
ELOS-Proposed-Logos-NEW
Menu

Diagnostics

7 global medtech trends in life science

,

As the medical device market is rapidly changing, OEMs are challenged to evolve their roles to thrive in the future of healthcare. Here are 7 global medtech trends in life science to keep you updated and ready for new market challenges, demands, and opportunities.

1. Demographic aging increases the need for medical devices

We have an expanding elderly population. The proportion of older people is increasing due to people living longer and having fewer children. According to the UN, the current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050. Along with an aging population comes age-related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and related mobility disability. Consequently, also the need for medical devices that improve the quality of life increases.

2. The medtech industry invests more in AI and ML

As big data is becoming more assessable and manageable, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are increasingly applied within healthcare. According to GlobalData forecasts, the market for AI and ML platforms will reach $52B in 2024, up from $29B in 2019. In the past few years, we have seen some of the largest players in the medtech industry invest in AI and ML. These technologies can potentially transform many aspects of patient care such as diagnosing, managing, and treating diseases and health issues.

3. A shift from mass-production to patient-specific implants

Patient-specific implants are a growing and advancing field within medtech. The medical device industry is slowly shifting from mass production to mass customization. Every body is different, and the closer an implant can mimic the natural body, the better. With the surgical benefits and potential for customized implants, more manufacturers now seek to make them more mainstream. We are already seeing major manufacturers, software companies, and hospitals partnering to produce custom implants for more unique cases.

4. Specialization in production technologies is coveted

The outsourcing trend in medical devices remains strong. While OEMs are looking for strategic CDMOs, there is also an increased demand for partners specialized in different production technologies – combining polymers and metals, for example. In addition to cost-efficiency, flexibility, and reduced time to market, OEMs face several challenges unique to their industry. Production technologies must be well adapted to high demands on complex geometries, precision, advanced surface treatments, and exacting hygiene requirements.

Also read: Life science: Advanced injection molding and metal machining in demand

5. Increased demand for medical device cleanroom production

A cleanroom environment is one of the keys to producing medical devices that meet today’s regulations for quality and safety. While focusing on the core business and reducing time to market is important for OEMs, we are seeing more medtech companies looking to outsource cleanroom production to a specialized CDMO. There is an increased demand from the medical device market in general and the diagnostics market in particular.

6. MDR puts high demands on the medical device industry

In 2021, the new MDR came into effect, aiming to increase safety and efficiency in the EU medical device market. To ensure products are MDR compliant, more OEMs turn to CDMOs to assess their MDR readiness, analyze their existing and future product portfolios, and accelerate time to market. CDMOs that understand the entire requirement and have the capability set are also trusted to take responsibility for more steps throughout the value chain; from design and manufacturing to packaging, distribution, and logistics.

7. The pandemic footprint in life science will linger

Since the coronavirus outbreak, the medtech industry has experienced great upheaval. With the increased need for intensive care, the demand for life-sustaining equipment and medical devices such as ventilators became exceptionally strong. This led to substantial delays in non-urgent procedures impacting the supply and demand for many medical devices. Although the industry is moving into the recovery and thrive phase, the pandemic footprint will linger, and a central challenge will be rapidly scaling up production to meet global needs.

There is opportunity on the horizon

Even though there are many challenges to navigate in the medical device industry, there is opportunity on the horizon. One key to success will be to build strong partnerships. Smart outsourcing – whether in the early design and development phases, manufacturing, or support after your products hit the market – can add the expertise, capabilities, and capacity to move faster and enter the market more competitively.


Are you curious to find out what that kind of partnership could look like? Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at Elos Medtech.

vitrolife-700x350

“Elos Medtech is a supplier that lives up to our demands and makes suggestions for improvements”

, , ,

How does one meet the medtech market’s growing need for high-quality products and solutions? At Elos Medtech, we see that having a close dialogue with customers and taking full responsibility for the production process is a good way to go. The work that we do together with our customer Vitrolife is an example of that.  

Working closely with customers to create customized medical device solutions

As a development and production partner in the medtech industry, the main priority is to provide high-quality medical device products to customers. This requires a deep understanding of regulatory requirements, customers’ challenges and the product’s applications. Therefore, it is important to not only have expertise in the field but also have a close cooperation with customers throughout the entire production process. That way, we can create customized solutions that match their specific needs. In addition, it is important for us to take full responsibility for the different phases of the production process. We call this way of working Complete Performance and it includes all the stages from development and design to production and delivery of the finished product.

Connected to this, and equally important, is to continuously optimize our own organization’s internal processes. Identifying opportunities for continuous improvements enable us to maintain high levels of accuracy, capacity and innovation in everything we do.

Vitrolife – contributing products within the IVF field

Vitrolife is one of Elos Medtech’s customers and provides solutions and services for assisted reproduction. The dishes that are used when culturing embryos have been developed by Vitrolife and are produced by Elos Medtech at Elos Medtech Microplast. The culture dishes are made of the material Polystyrene and are injection moulded in an entirely hands-off production process. The risks of unwanted particles entering the containers and potentially disturb the cell cultivation are therefore minimized.

“Our vision is to fulfill the dream of having a child. This inspires us to develop medical device solutions for IVF treatment that increase the quality of life for couples worldwide. We want a long-term and close cooperation with our suppliers to make sure that our products always meet our requirements as well as those of the clinics and authorities. Elos Medtech is a supplier that lives up to our demands and that also makes suggestions for improvements on the product and the production process. Because we can trust that the products from Elos Medtech always meet the customers’ expectations, we can also be sure to help people across the world that are longing for a child“, says Göran Mellbin, responsible for production and quality of plastic parts for IVF at Vitrolife.

Elos Medtech’s commitment to the diagnostic market

The work that Elos Medtech does together with Vitrolife is a part of our commitment to the diagnostic segment. For more than 40 years, we have gained experience in this area and developed our expertise within injection moulding as well as design and manufacture of moulding tools of plastic products. Our vision of “Transforming Medical Technology and Advancing Quality of Life Worldwide” goes hand in hand with Vitrolife’s aim to make meaningful changes in people’s lives. We believe that Complete Performance, continuous improvements and having a close dialogue with customers are important parts of our operations to reach that vision.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog article about Elos Medtech’s way of working and our cooperation with Vitrolife. Feel free to contact us with any questions, visit our website for more information and our Knowledge blog to read more of our blog articles.

Mathias Andersson Managing Director at Microplast

“We now double our capacity thanks to our new factory at Microplast”

, , , , , ,

Because of a growing medtech industry and high customer demands, Elos Medtech decided to expand their factory in Skara, Sweden. I interviewed Mathias Andersson, Managing Director at Microplast, about his role at the company, the reasons for the expansion and in what way the expansion will benefit Elos Medtech’s customers.


Mathias, tell me about your career at Microplast. What does your role as Managing Director involve?  
Well, I started working as Managing Director at Microplast in March 2012, a little over four years ago now. When recruiting for my position, they were looking for a market-oriented Managing Director who would be assigned the mission to increase turnover while maintaining profitability. The mission was also to, within five years time, expand the factory. But thanks to all of the competent employees and their hard work, the expansion of the factory didn’t need to wait that long, but saw the light of day already after four years.

In my job, I mostly work with strategic matters to continue to enable future growth. I often discuss with our customers about their future needs, and together we create what we call a road map, which enables us to plan ahead to make sure that our customers’ needs are in line with our capacity. In this way, we make sure to always stay at the forefront of our industry. Another part of my job is to make sure that we have the right organization and competence, and that we invest in the latest equipment, to maintain a high degree of automation. Beyond that, I have traditional Managing Director tasks, for example responsibility for the operations and budget.   

Prior to Microplast – what was your occupation?
The last ten to fifteen years I have worked with Marketing and Sales in leading positions. During that time, I operated within business-to-business and worked mainly in the plastics industry. Just before I started working at Microplast, I worked as Marketing and Sales Manager at a company manufacturing plastic packaging for the food industry. My responsibility was dairies in the Nordics and food-service products in Europe. There are tremendous demands in the food-industry when it comes to for example clean environments, therefore it has a lot of similarities with the medtech industry. In addition, I have also worked with technical support with a focus on quality, product training and sales support, among other things. One could say that I have a solid background and experience in different businesses, mainly within the industrial segment.

So, tell me a little bit about Microplast. What kind of business do you have there?
Microplast was founded in 1971, so we turn 45 years this year! Elos Medtech acquired Microplast in 2011, at that time we were 13 people working here. Today, we are 24 people working in the facilities, which consist of both office space and a factory. At Microplast, we manufacture technically advanced plastic parts for the medtech industry. We manufacture plastic parts for products such as hearing aids, pacemakers, diagnostics, analysis instruments, disposable articles for blood analyses, dental products and surgical instruments suitable for orthopedics. Above that, we  provide production in clean rooms, as well as produce and assemble products, which we deliver to our customers after sterilization.

We also offer a number of different refining steps where we use ultrasonic welding, machining, printing, assembling and packing. We do everything we can to give our customers as much value as possible. We work with all kinds of plastics but mainly high performance plastics like for example PEEK, POM and PVDF. These plastics replace metal and are meant to cope with specific demands such as chemical resistance or heat resistance, or be exposed to pressure or heat. We also work with polyolefins like for example PS, PE, PP in medical grades to use in disposable labware products.         

Soon, you will inaugurate your new factory expansion at Microplast. What are the main causes for the expansion?
One of the objectives when I started as Managing Director was to increase sales and consequently expand our factory. Our current factory has become too small, with no room for the production lines that we need. Due to the increased demands from both current and new customers, we needed to expand, which we of course are glad to do! Our new factory will handle projects from both new and present customers, and the purpose of the expansion is to be able to grow long-term with our customers. Our workshop is now attached to the new factory as well, so we have the possibility to broaden our post processing in form of assembling, completion of products and much more. To deliver finished details is an increasing demand from our customers, one that we will be able to undertake more of with the new expansion.         

What was your role in the project, and how has the process proceeded?
In autumn 2014, we started with the planning of building the new factory, and the board gave clearance for construction start in spring 2015. My role in the expansion process was to be a part of a steering group consisting of a couple of key persons. Together with an internal construction coordinator and an external project leader, the steering group has made sure that the functions and spaces which we have ordered are at the right place at the right time, and in line with our budget and strategy plan. Subcontractors and an architecture firm have been responsible for construction, architecture, and project management. From the moment we put the shovel in the ground, the project has taken us little less than a year. For such a major project, the process has been really efficient. The new equipment consists of several new machine lines. However, we will not fill the whole factory from start, but we will successively invest in new equipment to be able to adjust our equipment to the future needs of our customers. We now have the possibility to double our capacity compared to before, which is great!

What have you got planned for the inauguration day?
The inauguration will take place the 26th of April, which is the same day as the Annual General Meeting, which will be held later that afternoon. There will be a guided tour of our facilities, both the present and the new one. Inauguration speeches will be held and we will have specially invited guests such as shareholders, stakeholders from Elos Medtech, the municipality, press, vendors and customers.

What will the expansion of the factory mean for the customers?
Our customers will be able to assign more production to us and we will be able to offer a commitment that means more processing and more delivery of finished products. We will have a high degree of automation, with focus on quality as usual, which means that we will be strong compared to our competitors. Our expansion enables us to grow with our customers. Our goal is to grow and expand our business to meet the increased requirements in the medtech industry. We also create a platform to increase and supply the right competence internally.

What kind of challenges and trends do you see ahead, within the medtech industry?
The product development is much faster today than it was before. Today there is a larger focus on both patient safety and patient benefits. This will lead to higher demands, both on the manufacturers and the product owners, which are our customers. A challenge is to cope with these demands and make sure that we always are best when it comes to quality, delivery and production. With our new factory, we believe we are a force to be reckoned with in the future, within the medtech industry.  

Thank you for a nice chat, Mathias. Your expansion of the factory at Microplast sure sounds exciting, as well as promising for the future of the medtech industry. If you have any questions, please contact us or visit our website to read more about Elos Medtech and Microplast.