A MediSurge Case Study: Suture Guides

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Over the past few months, our staff has continued to adapt, make adjustments and leverage our capabilities to help do our part in the fight against COVID-19. In this, we have worked to become more efficient and to fulfill an essential need that was spurred by the virus.

Due to international shipping delays and the rapid spread of the virus in Europe, an Italian-based manufacturer that produces a similar product has been unable to meet supply demand within the United States. That’s where we stepped in.

Task

As a medical manufacturer, MediSurge is working to ramp up the production of our Suture Guide product, since many other producers are no longer able to manufacture these items.

The MediSurge team is working to fill a gap in the market for Suture Guides, an essential product used in open heart surgery. These have become increasingly more important since heart complications are the number one underlying condition for those affected by COVID-19. We stepped in to meet the demand unable to be filled by the Italian company.

• Producers of Suture Guides:
  • MediSurge (Michigan)
  • LivaNOVA (Italy)
  • Teleflex (Pennsylvania), who has been out of the market since November (19) due to quality issues.
• We’ve seen a recent uptick in the sale of our product. This is due to the inability of our Italian competitor to meet demand. International shipping constraints and delays related to the virus have made these goals unattainable for LivaNOVA.

Goal

Since this product is essential for combating the pandemic, the MediSurge team sought to fill the need within the market by increasing our output. This helped to meet needs within the United States.

Process

In order to meet the increased demand, our team has:

• Increased labor: The team at MediSurge has added two operators to ensure we are able to increase output for finished goods in a timely manner.
• Increased raw materials: In order to increase output, the team needed to increase the rate components and raw materials were entering our facility. Our great supplier relationships and location give us an advantage. That’s because we’re located within the same city as our supplies, which negates shipping delays.
• Streamlined production process: To become more efficient, our team streamed our workflow to help increase production.

MediSurge is uniquely positioned to meet needs because the raw materials used to create the product are local to Grand Rapids, MI. We were able to partner with suppliers, MedBio and Boyd, who were also able to ramp up their capacity and provide raw materials at a faster rate.

Results

MediSurge has seen an increase in our production and sales.

• In a year-over-year comparison (Feb-March), we’ve seen a 22% increase in output of suture guides.
• MediSurge is able to outpace suppliers from a capacity perspective, but we are working with them to increase the rate at which raw material can be delivered.
• At this time, the percentage is expected to continue growing as suppliers are able to ramp up as quickly as MediSurge has.

Conclusion

As these products are being shipped across the United States, our team at MediSurge is working their hardest to help provide medical professionals with the essential tools they need to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.