When’s the right time to involve manufacturing in the design process? Britt Creech, Leader of Operations at Blur, weighs in on this topic and shares insights on how Blur approaches design and manufacturing phases.
Parallel Development and Manufacturing Phases
At Blur, we know from many years developing medical devices that most customers have aggressive timelines to meet their deadlines. Britt is no stranger to tight timelines in manufacturing, having been in the medical device field for 12 years. “It’s critical at Blur for us to have a parallel path in development and manufacturing phases to achieve these targets,” Britt says.
In a perfect world, the design would be frozen before transferring to manufacturing; however, most clients come in with almost finished products that require final modifications.
The good news is that we have a design team that can assist with these final tweaks and help prepare the documentation, freeze the design, and start ordering parts. They work in parallel by ordering parts with long lead times while ensuring that the design is ready for manufacturing.
Documentation Assistance
What happens when a customer has a finished device with no documentation, such as assembly instructions, bill of materials, and raw material specifications? Britt notes that they work with the client side-by-side, breaking down the device and documenting every step involved in building it.
“Together, we build the device back while writing assembly instructions, creating drawings, creating material specifications, and coming up with what the requirements are for final testing, and then helping them understand what testing is needed and implementing the final testing,” Britt explains.
They also help the client understand what testing is needed and implement the final testing to ensure they have a finished product that can be commercialized.
From Prototype to Manufacturing
By following this approach, the Blur team takes a prototype directly to a place where the device can be manufactured. The team at Blur can evaluate what’s left to be completed for your product and work alongside your team to make sure you have a finished product that meets your needs.
Get Started with Blur Contract Manufacturing
If you are looking for assistance with your product development and manufacturing process, reach out to us! Let us know where you are in your process, show us what you’ve done so far, and we can tell you what’s left to be completed. Our team looks forward to working with you and helping you achieve your goals.