Over the years, our team has helped many companies develop custom medical carts, so we’ve seen many different project timelines play out as well. Some projects stay on pace and run smoothly throughout, while others force us to take a step back. We know how difficult that can be, because you have deadlines for a reason. That’s why we want to help with one key piece of advice: get the right people engaged in your medical cart project from the start. Developing a custom medical cart is a very detailed process, so having the right people involved throughout will save you time, money, and unnecessary frustration.
Who Should Get Involved from the Start of Your Medical Cart Project?
It's beneficial to have a cross-functional team together from the start of your project, because it ensures the team will capture perspectives from all areas of the company. Here's a list of key people you'll want to include:
Project Manager
Start by including your project manager, because this person focuses on moving the team and the project forward. He/she will keep your device development within scope and makes sure project milestones are met within a realistic timeline. Together with our project manager, he/she can coordinate to determine an accurate medical cart development timeline.
Engineers
Second, get your engineer(s) on board, because they will have the best understanding of the project along with insight on what’s changing on the medical device. They will be able to communicate changes to our cart development team right away, which saves time as we determine how those changes will affect other features as well as the overall design.
Quality/Regulatory
Third, get your quality manager involved, because this person will ensure everyone involved in the project is following company quality standards and procedures. They also know how the cart is classified and what risk management and testing the cart will need to go through.
Marketing/Sales
Fourth, include representatives from your marketing and sales teams. They each have a sound understanding of the voice of the customer, so they will communicate their customers’ needs effectively to our cart development team to ensure the design will succeed in the field. They may also have branding suggestions and requirements that our team will need to include in the design.
Decision Maker
Finally, do everything you can to include your decision maker in meetings. Their input has the greatest effect on the timeline, overall cost, and the success of the project. If you don’t want to waste time with a middle man, and you don’t want to backtrack on previous decisions, including this person can save everyone a lot of time.
This list is really just a starting point for you to use when you’re assembling your medical cart development team. We’re hoping the list makes you think about other people on your team who will eventually add their input as well. The quicker their opinions can be discussed, the better. Those little details will slow things down and raise costs. If you want your project to flow smoothly, you have to get the right people engaged from the start.
At HUI, we can help you throughout your custom medical cart development process, and later we’ll produce those carts at our manufacturing facility as well. We have a great team of designers who have a lot of experience designing for manufacturability, so if your team needs help with your medical cart project, please contact us today.
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