Accelerating the journey to market of foreign-body detection innovative device

MTC's Solution

MTC began supporting Ortotec by developing a ‘New Product Introduction Assessment’ for the GetMet product and a Discovery workshop with the Ortotec team, to gather a holistic understanding of the product development and business objectives.

At the outset, it was crucial to foster a high degree of collaboration with the chief designer and manufacturer of the GetMet product in Finland. With his help, the Bill of Materials (BOM) and existing manufacturing data were obtained and translated from Finnish to English. Subsequent work involved identifying specifications available from potential UK sources for all parts, including the challenging aluminium carrying case previously sourced from Germany, which could now be exported directly to the UK with potential cost savings. The most critical consideration was directed at the sensor coil assembly during product review as this was at the core of the metal detector design. There were efforts directed at finding a suitable supplier to manufacture and supply high quality coils, which were identified and are producing these critical components for Ortotec in the UK.

Various Additive Manufacturing (AM) companies were explored to assess different material and manufacturing solutions, resulting in a wide range of offerings and quoted prices. In terms of electronics manufacture, a range of prices were observed depending on the vendor's size and capabilities. The MTC team performed due diligence to ensure supply chain resilience too. The technical work provided Ortotec with a viable digital manufacturing pack for future vendors to manufacture the bare circuit boards, electronic board assemblies, and AM enclosures that are required for the GetMet Mark II product.

The most important work involved researching potential integration partners in the West Midlands and visiting these partners with Ortotec to evaluate their factory environments and manufacturing capabilities. MTC introduced an overall Supply Chain Strategy and best practices guide to produce products and their sub-assemblies with a high yield and low defect rates. In particular, MTC ensured that Ortotec was working with primarily ISO 9001 contract manufacturers capable of providing in-process quality assurance. ISO 13845 for the manufacture of medical devices was also an important consideration but deemed not essential by regulatory consultants that advised Ortotec independently. After thorough evaluation, a clear choice for the best-fit integration partner was made based on the agreed criteria, leading to the recommendation of a specific partner and therefore developing a subcontracting solution for Ortotec.

Benefits to the Client

The collaboration has brought several benefits to Ortotec. The support from the WMHTIA programme enabled the establishment of a shared vision and holistic support of Ortotec from various partners, with clear scope and objectives set for the project and budget. This included defining what 'success' looked like for Ortotec and determining the direction based on industry experience. MTC interventions helped reduce Ortotec’s exposure to business risks at every stage of the project while helping the West Midlands supply chain by setting up relationships with manufacturers in the region.

Ortotec accelerated and derisked the scale up journey by having access to highly qualified and experienced MTC professionals who fully understood design, manufacturing, and supply chain requirements. This high level of control and risk management ensured the project progressed smoothly along its critical path. MTC also provided high-quality research for potential supply chain partners and assessed their capabilities by embedding into Ortotec's business a manufacturing and supply chain expert, ensuring high quality, adherence to schedule, and cost efficiency for materials and production.