For virtually everyone in the U.S., November marks the beginning of winter, shorter days, decreasing temperatures, and Thanksgiving. For those involved with medical device development and manufacturing, it’s also the month for the Medica and CompaMed trade shows in Dusseldorf, Germany. While last year’s event seemed to bring the crowd’s back following the COVID-induced hiatus, this year may be a more true return to form.
 
With this in mind, I reached out to a number of companies who will be exhibiting at the show to find out directly from them what they are showing off or focusing on at the event, what challenges customers have brought them, and where they see their role within the industry in aiding medical device manufacturers. Tackling these questions as well as a couple others, Lars Gerding, VP technology & GBU silicones at Freudenberg Medical, shared a few insights to help you determine if the firm should be a potential services partner for you in 2024 or beyond.
 
Sean Fenske: What technology or service are you emphasizing at Medica/CompaMed this year?
 
Lars Gerding: The digitalization of medical devices is a global trend. Working with our customers, Freudenberg Medical is enabling technologies for smart medical devices to address unmet needs in healthcare. We use medical grade silicone to encapsulate sensors and integrate electronics into smart devices. By drawing on our materials expertise for silicone and our global R&D network at Freudenberg, we formulated a specific silicone compound with unique conductive fillers. This enabled one of our customers to bring a medical device to market that conducts electric current to stimulate targeted areas of the body, while maintaining the beneficial silicone properties of biocompatibility and allowing for comfort of wear.
 
I recommend attending the CompaMed Supplier Forum on November 14, 12:30 PM CET. Daniel Kaltbeitzel, head of engineering, will present customer case studies in the field of digitalization of medical devices.
 
Fenske: What’s the most common challenge customers inquire about and how do you address it?
 
Gerding: The stringent regulations and approval processes for medical devices pose a major challenge. Freudenberg Medical offers its customers configurable automation solutions that reduce process variations, ensuring the highest quality standards. This can minimize time-to-market for newly developed medical devices. In addition, automated processes provide solutions to another major challenge: by promoting greater production efficiency, automation helps to reduce waste, which mitigates the effect of rising raw material and labor costs.
 
Freudenberg Medical has established a Center of Excellence for Automation and Robotics to promote global, cross-functional collaboration and the development of new, ground-breaking technologies. Our experts are working closely with our customers to achieve the optimum level of automation—from the automation of individual process steps to comprehensive end-to-end automation—individually tailored to our customers’ needs.
 
Fenske: If you could give one piece of advice to companies seeking a manufacturing partner before they make a decision, what would it be?
 
Gerding: My recommendation would be to thoroughly assess the quality of collaboration. Our customers know their medical device project is in safe hands at Freudenberg Medical. We are with our customers every step of the way—from ideation to volume manufacturing. We challenge their ideas, provide feedback on the design (especially when it comes to design for manufacturability), and transparently share all information on lead times and estimated costs. All these factors add up to cooperation at eye level for mutual benefit.
 
Fenske: What are the forces driving medical device manufacturers to seek your technology/services over doing it in-house?
 
Gerding: When medical device manufacturers outsource development and production to us, either wholly or in part, they benefit in two ways; they are adding resources to strengthen their teams, and they have access to complementary competencies, such as capabilities and technologies they lack themselves. At Freudenberg Medical, we pride ourselves with being a one-stop-shop, covering a major part of the entire value chain.
 
In addition to the breadth of our portfolio, it is above all our global presence that benefits our customers. With 11 production facilities in medical industry hubs in the United States, Ireland, and Germany, as well as Costa Rica and China, along with sales offices in Southeast Asia and India, we are close to our customers. Most of our facilities have at least one sister site with the same materials expertise and manufacturing technologies.
 
We have also continued to strengthen our relationships with raw material suppliers and machine manufacturers. All this together mitigates the risk for our customers and allows them to bring products to the market faster. With Freudenberg, they know they have a partner who always puts the patient first.
 
Fenske: In what ways is your company able to aid in getting a product (project) to market faster?
 
Gerding: Our engineering teams support our customers with know-how across the entire value chain: from design for manufacturability; to choosing the right processes, tooling, and materials to assembly; surface modifications; and packaging if needed. We apply Freudenberg’s core competencies—expertise in materials and processing—to the highly regulated medical technology market and make them available to customers and patients. We not only understand the technology but also the clinical application. This allows our customers to get their products to regulatory approval and market launch—faster, reliably, and cost efficiently.
 
Freudenberg Medical is located at Medica/Compamed in Hall 8B, Booth/Stand H01.