If you're going to invest countless hours and thousands of dollars on a custom medical cart, wouldn't you want to make sure that it's built to last?
Our engineers undoubtedly agree, which is why we've provided you with a list of what will impact your cart's life cycle, ways to extend and maintain its lifespan and how to gauge when features will degenerate.
What factors impact the life expectancy of my custom medical cart?
Your cart’s life expectancy relies heavily on its environment, the human factor and mobile components.
Environment
As you can well imagine, prolonged exposure to UV rays and other elements will have a significant impact on your product’s aesthetic and life expectancy—not to mention the deteriorating effects from traveling over rough terrain.
You should also be aware of the chemicals your cart will most likely come in contact with. Saline solution, for example, will erode most medical cart surfaces unless it’s cleaned properly. Keep details like this in mind when choosing certain features of your device.
The Human Factor
Unfortunately, with prolonged use comes the inevitable human factor. People will slam drawers shut, bump your cart into wall and spill substances on its surface. Prepare for inevitable bumps, scuffs and cracks by investing in high-quality paint and engineered plastic resin.
Mobile Components
Anything interactive on your custom medical cart—whether it be a drawer or a monitor arm—will wear out sooner than other parts of your product. It’s inevitable, regardless of what you do, so look into preventative maintenance by making all moving parts modular and asking your manufacturer about setup service kits.
Discuss cycle testing with your custom medical cart manufacturers.
By subjecting your product to cycle testing, you can determine the estimated life expectancy for one of its features. For example, we can set up a cycle test where a machine will continuously open and close a drawer on your medical cart to figure out when it will start squeaking, sticking or showing any other signs of degradation. Knowing the rough lifespan of your product's features will give you a better idea how to schedule and manage orders. Cost and lead time for cycle testing depends on what you want tested and your manufacturer.
If you’d like to discuss options for improving your custom medical cart’s lifespan or cycle testing, contact us today.
