Cost-optimized medical technology manufacturing processes through integration of technology and inspection planning - Imhotep

 

Changing legal requirements as well as shortened product life cycles and the resulting adjustments to products and their manufacture pose challenges for medical technology companies in particular. This is because both products and manufacturing and inspection processes have to be re-certified after adaptations. This results in a need for systematic methods for economic technology and inspection planning in medical technology.
A special feature of the industry is the high proportion of inspection costs to manufacturing costs. Technology and inspection planning must therefore be considered integratively in order to achieve a cost-optimized manufacturing process. In addition to conventional inspection processes, the use of prognosis models to predict component characteristics offers additional cost-saving potential. However, there is a lack of methodological principles for the use of prognostic models in medical technology as to how they should be designed and used in order to meet the requirements of certification.

The first focus of the Imhotep project is the development of a methodology for the systematic adaptation of manufacturing process and inspection sequences in response to a component change. The methodology includes the derivation of adaptation alternatives for the existing manufacturing process and inspection sequence, the analysis of the change propagation within this and the economic evaluation of the analyzed adaptation alternatives.

The methodology thus forms an important component for the cost-optimized manufacture of medical technology components. The second focus is the development of a methodology for the application of prognosis models of the manufacturing process and inspection sequences. The methodology supports technology and inspection planners in identifying interfaces at which prognosis models can be applied, e.g. for the substitution of expensive inspection processes, in order to reduce the manufacturing costs for medical technology components.
With the method module for the integrative creation and adaptation of manufacturing process and inspection sequences, companies can ensure the economic efficiency and competitiveness of the manufacture of safety-critical components in medical technology.