Going the extra mile for the medical market
By Phil Gee, Director, Corporate OEM/CEM at Farnell element14
Integrity is key in the medical industry when it comes to electronics components distribution. Organisations in the medical market demand franchised distributors, direct buying and full traceability. Therefore, anticipating and responding to this complex market with a comprehensive suite of solutions is critical to success.
Traditionally these markets have been self-contained and chained to old designs and approaches. The result was limited traceability and companies found themselves tied to out of date designs based on obsolete components.
We’re now seeing medical companies looking to reduce costs, enabled by a marked improvement in standards and high-reliability products across the board. It’s possible to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products instead of custom designs each time and that’s where the role of the distributor can really make a difference.
The medical industry has very specific requirements, particularly those that are safety critical, and distributors need to understand these, adapting supply chains and procurement channels to cater to their needs. Buyers within the medical industry typically want to purchase products in low quantities and are driven by quality and integrity, though that’s not to say that speed of delivery and service aren’t also of importance in their decision process.
It’s this move to lower quantities and designs or jobs with a quick turnaround that presents a challenge – with many distributors and suppliers only shipping parts on full reels or in large batches, which goes against the need to reduce costs and focus purely on what’s needed. At the same time, quick delivery and specific orders need to be matched with high-reliability and traceability.
Over the last few years we’ve made significant changes in how we support customers in the medical market, some of which required the development of a number of peripheral services, designed to ensure CEMs received the most relevant service possible. Of these services, ensuring we could provide full component traceability was the most important.
Critically anti-counterfeiting legislation, guaranteeing quality, related safety concerns and stricter government regulations have placed intense pressure on the distribution market.
As outsourcing increases, distributors will find having the ability to provide comprehensive traceability information on request will play a vital role in the acquisition and retention of medical customers. Legislation such as RoHS and WEEE and certificates such as ISO adds to the importance of traceability, making it a legal requirement for manufacturers to self-declare compliance and respond to traceability queries on demand. In fact, traceability of components is an essential requirement of any manufacturing business in the medical sector. Should an issue arise, traceability helps mitigate liability - giving greater insight in to where the issue lies and which products it has impacted, greatly increasing safety.
The dynamics of electronics manufacturing today can make it difficult to guarantee and maintain a high level of traceability, with electronics runs typically characterised by extremely short product lifecycles and a tendency for a large number of different products to be produced simultaneously. Trends such as the miniaturisation of components also increase the risk of quality issues, while legislative demands mean manufacturers must capture and retain what happens during the manufacturing process well after products have been introduced into the marketplace.
Common queries relating to traceability include:
- Was this product assembled using a defective component?
- Was this product assembled through processes that comply with standards?
- Is the whole manufacturing order affected or is it limited to a specific component batch or lot?
- What is the overall production history of this board or box?
- Are we confident there are no counterfeit components in the supply chain?
There are also new standards and pieces of legislation to be aware of, driven by individual countries or industries or even by the EU. Keeping tabs on the standards that customers need to follow is essential for distributors to remain relevant.
Services like Product Watch are extremely important for businesses in Germany to manage the risk of obsolescent components. Product Watch is an advanced obsolescence notification service that automatically informs businesses if certain products are obsolete or about to be discontinued and they can react accordingly. This way, imminent production losses can be recognized in time and alternative components can be ordered to avoid them.
The medical market has always been one of the most exciting for new technologies and challenges, and for those in the distribution business a lot has changed in the last few years. As our customers move away from custom designs and obsolete products, they need to be able to guarantee the reliability and traceability of every part of their design. They also need to be able to buy exactly what’s required to minimise spare stock and manage obsolescence as well as ensuring that they meet all of the latest legislation and standards. For distributors this means that they need to adjust their offering away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach – offering the high-service and support that the market demands, without forcing customers to spend more than they need.