For a peek into how an Asian medical-device firm might innovate, consider the example of Meiban in Singapore, meiban.com.sg. It started out as a plastics injection molder in a small shop in Singapore and now has contract manufacturing facilities in China and Malaysia as well as Singapore. Helen Ho, an industrial designer at Meiban, says the company wanted to do something different in adding industrial design to the existing engineering and manufacturing capabilities. So she developed the idea of the “Designershive ” group for designers.

“We looked to nature for inspiration,” she says. “It gave us the idea of bees and honey as a metaphor for industrial design. The philosophy works well for us in many ways. For example, designs should be soothing like honey. Everyday life is frustrating enough, so there is no need to produce products that are hard to use. For instance, packaging is often difficult to open. And devices with too many buttons make it hard for patients or doctors to keep track of which button does what. We think that good design is like creating honey, which is renowned for its soothing and medicinal effects."

When customers need help on an existing design, the Designershive designers first determine the technical specifications, how the device is being used, and what is wrong with the current design. For a whole new product, though, they start with market research. “We then establish the form factor and how to incorporate the needed technology,” says Ho. “We also advise the customer on texture, color, and other factors that will affect the whole design and user interface.”

Form language studies

The Designershive designers also perform a form language study. “For example, say we are helping to develop a hand-held medical device,” says Ho. “It can come in many forms, but the form is restricted by size as it is a hand held device. So we will create about 10 possible forms for each device out of any moldable material, such as clay. A focus group is organized with everyday profile users who then hold each form and grade it from 1 to 5. This method gives us the form that seems to resonate with most people, and as a result, it will be the form we use. Tests can also get more complex. These may involve studying color and texture. We use the phrase ‘form language studies’ because the product is ‘speaking’ to the user.”

Today’s consumers — both patients and doctors — are very discerning, says Ho. “If it were just engineers creating parts, the components would come out looking purely functional,” she says. “In the past, this would have been fine because people bought just for function. However, now people buy because devices look good. Companies looking to create successful products thus require industrial design.”

Consider a typical businessman as an example of today’s consumer, says Ho. He has had a heart attack, goes to the hospital, and gets an operation. After awhile, he is sent home, well enough to go back to work. “The individual needs a machine or device, a highly engineered product, to monitor his heart to ensure he does not have another heart attack or even a stroke,” she says. “The device signals him to pop a pill should his heart start pumping irregularly. When he attends meetings in front of his CEO, he doesn't want to pick up a device that looks like a medical product. Also, his office mates would always be asking him what's wrong, are you sick, what's going on? So he wants a small device that looks like a consumer product such as a cell phone or a pager.”

For this particular product, the Designershive’s designers would not suggest white (like many medical devices). “Instead, we would probably make it a metallic grey with a nice texture that adds to the product’s status,” says Ho. “Or, depending on the form factor, adding some professional black might be interesting. In any case, most people just want to go on with their everyday lives and do not want to be seen as patients.”

Let’s wow consumers

The Designershive designers must ensure the ideas they draw on paper or in the computer can actually be injection molded,” says Ho. “Think back to the ancient past when man wanted to fly," she says. "He imagined building a huge set of wings that would let him soar. But the technology obviously did not work. Fast-forward to today, when jets take people almost everywhere. Technology has supported this advancement. Likewise, the link between man's imagination and the timing of technology is critical in our manufacturing processes. For example, we can design texture or color into molds. We can put in a texture that makes components look and feel like leather. We can even do a wood grain, which has the added advantage of saving trees. Advanced injection-molding techniques such as these help us push our design or industrial design forward. They let us wow patients and doctors and get them excited about our products. We are in the age to empower patients and doctors via good design.”

How sequential mold technology stacks up

Meiban is also very innovative when it comes to developing cutting-edge injection-molding technology. Currently, companies wanting to boost production by converting to tandem molding (which mounts two conventional single-face molds such that they can open and close simultaneously) must purchase a more-expensive tandem machine or spend money to retrofit their existing machines. The firm developed a patent-pending technique it calls sequential mold technology (SMT), which lets companies double the cavitation of any standard injection-molding machine and at less cost. SMT comprises a mold with two (or more) parting lines, a special internal mold latch, and a portable controller.

Recall that injection molding involves a few basic steps: injection, cooling, and part ejection. The cooling sequence takes up the bulk of the cycle time and is commonly referred to as “dead time.” The two parting lines on an SMT mold open up alternately. When one layer is closed for cooling, the other layer opens for part ejection. This almost doubles part production on a standard machine. It also eliminates the need to purchase a higher-tonnage machine to boost part production The SMT Allego latch works like this: When a safety device inside the mold is unsecured, the latch can move up and down, letting the right or left plates open. The latch allows for the sequential movement. The SMT Maestro controller is on wheels, making it easy to push to any machine. The controller orchestrates the whole sequential movement.

Good government support

A recent article in our sister publication Machine Design describes how the Singapore government has made it their mission to help medical-device and manufacturing companies that locate there (or are already located there) with R&D, funding, and access to a global supply chain and market. Meiben’s Designershive received R&D funding from Singapore’s Economic Board of Development for its Innovative Manufacturing Technology (IMT) program. For more information, visit imt.com.sg