Right at the beginning of the new financial year, Gerresheimer Regensburg GmbH established the new Medical Innovation Group (MIG). With its range of services such as market analysis, product design and patent management, Gerresheimer Medical Plastic Systems responds to specific requirements of OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) from the pharmaceutical, diagnostics and medical technology industry for cooperation with external partners at an early stage of their product development projects.
“Many of our customers from the pharmaceutical industry clearly expressed their wish to refocus on their core business, i.e. the development of active substances. Therefore, the responsibility for the development of primary packaging, such as inhalers or insulin pens is often delegated to external service providers. The same applies to our customers from the diagnostics and medical technology segments. They expect a wider range of preliminary services from OEM suppliers to help them reduce their time-to-market,” Andreas Schütte, CEO of Gerresheimer Regensburg GmbH explains.
In order to meet these new and substantially more complex customer requirements, Gerresheimer Regensburg GmbH has now founded the Medical Innovation Group, featuring product management, design and development as well as CAD (Computer Aided Desgin), IP (Intellectual Property) and documentation. The new group is comprised of a team of specialists with a wide variety of skills and expertise and a disparate approach to product development: the members of the new Medical Innovation Group know all about the requirements and specifications of users and consumers, functional, technical and production-related specifications as well as aspects of design, market intelligence and they combine this with design and engineering expertise.
Manfred Baumann, CTO/COO of Gerresheimer Regensburg GmbH: “We are creating the basic conditions that enable us to assist customers with their project when it is still an idea and not when the product is already developed. Our approach to product development starts with understanding the end user.“ Another major benefit for our customers is the fact that design for manufacturing can be integrated into product design and development. This translates into shorter development times for customers, because post-development optimization of the product for polymer processing is no longer necessary.
We deliberately set up the new Medical Innovation Group as an independent department operating outside of the Technical Competence Center and the production facilities of Gerresheimer Regensburg GmbH. As a result, customers can decide on their further approach to product realization directly after completion of the product development phase. An independent department also provides new opportunities for the company. Based on detailed market insights, the experience of market experts and the intelligence of market analyses, the company can carry out their own preliminary developments, which allows major OEMs from the pharmaceutical, diagnostics and medical technology industry to significantly reduce their time to market.
The new department was founded at the beginning of the new corporate year 2011 on 1 December, 2010. At present, it will start with seven engineers, designers and patent management experts, which cater to all issues related to the development of new products.
