PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
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To help you focus your efforts ask questions such as those outlines below during the design process that are specifically related to medical devices.
What does sustainability mean to my customers? A customer’s priorities may not be as obvious to you as simply lowering the impact score of the product. Customers can guide you to the places where you will have the most effect on their sustainability issues. When designing its new large MRI machines, Philips Healthcare learned from customers that the weight of the heavy magnet limited installation to basements or other, more costly customized places. So weight reduction helped the infrastructure requirements of the user become more sustainable, which is an improvement even without factoring in shipping costs. For consumer products with batteries, customers may say that initially they are used to regular disposable cells, but might find rechargeable ones desirable if it is convenient for them to deal with low-battery emergencies.
Can a disposable product be made reusable? This is a sensitive issue for many companies, as medical technology is expensive to develop. Often the most lucrative business model is a disposable, in a “razor/razor blade” scenario. Customers, however, are wary of this approach when it is done purely for financial reasons, and they are aware of cost and waste implications. In any therapy or diagnostic product currently dominated by disposables, it is possible that one manufacturer will break from the pack and offer a more creative sustainable approach, pulling market share from the others. An innovation does not necessarily have to hurt the bottom line to be greener. A reusable product could use a network connection to a server to authorize cost on a per-use basis instead of being disposable. Passing on the savings as the product is now being reused, and charging a lower per-use fee, may make your offering more competitive. Efficacy and sterility concerns may require a disposable, but consider whether the disposable part might be made smaller with a reusable portion.
Can my product be green and still be as usable? In asking how to improve sustainability don’t throw out usability. No company wants to be at a competitive disadvantage against less-green offerings. Try to find creative ways to optimize any trade offs. For instance, a high-volume sterile disposable that places a catheter may currently be designed with an integrated disposable inserter tool. This offers the user convenience, but creates much waste once the insertion is over. Consider making the inserter tool reusable but very easy to clean or sterilize. Modularize the disposable portion in much smaller packaging that delivers the disposable to the inserter tool. Then make sure the marketing team is aware of these design innovations in promoting the product to the market, as users tolerate trade offs better if they are made explicit (witness the small, slightly slower, but best-selling Prius hybrid car).
How can I alter the mix of materials I use? Avoid toxic materials, additives, or finishes. Use materials that are either already recycled or actually recycled after your first use, rather than simply “can be recycled.” For plastics, this means using the so-called majority plastics, such as PS, PS-ABS or mix (including HIPS) and HDPE or PP for polymer components weighing more than 1/5 pound. These have enough market demand as recyclable materials to actually get used again, as opposed to the minority plastics (all but those listed previously), which may theoretically be reused but rarely are.
Use published sources to identify restrictions and actual or impending legislation. Companies in the medical device industry have already largely adopted RoHS legislation, or are exempt from it. With advances in materials, consider whether it is necessary to take advantage of medical-use exemptions. With very specific medical issues (for instance, radiation shielding or biocompatibility), the choices may be limited. A careful look at alternatives for every material being considered may yield significantly less environmental effect without compromising medical efficacy or adding cost.
How can I reduce packaging? So much functionality is designed into modern medical packaging that it has become quite bulky. Multiple vacuum-formed trays inside sterile blisters are not uncommon. Secondary external boxes add further bulk; then a product goes into multiple-unit boxes for shipping.
Consider reducing material usage by thinking of the problem as an entire system of delivery. Look for ways to trim certain elements by innovating that delivery. For example, minimize the margin of a blister around a product or reduce the gauge of a material that is already buried several layers inside the sterile bundle. Such alterations could easily knock 10–15% off packaging material usage. Making one element of the packaging more sophisticated might allow another portion to be eliminated or reduced considerably. Could the bulk-pack carton become a storage unit that presents the product well on the hospital central supply shelf, eliminating the need for a secondary cardboard box around the blister or pouch?
