By Sean Fenske, Editor-in-Chief
 
The pandemic brought with it significant challenges for medical technology makers. High product demand for certain devices coupled with a lack of supply on critical components made for a difficult period. Fortunately, much of the problems have eased, but supply chain shortages have continued to be a concern for many.
 
Within the orthopedic space, availability of raw materials (or lack thereof) coupled with a tough labor market have been the primary obstacles to recovery for manufacturers. As surgical procedures return to pre-pandemic levels (or even greater in some cases), demand for implants, instruments, and other necessary surgical elements remains high. OEMs are leaning on their supply chain for relief, seeking answers from these partners.
 
Brigham Brandon, VP of Operations—Metals Solutions at Viant, offered his own perspectives on this dynamic in the following Q&A. He shares insights into what his company has done to handle the shifting challenges and explains best practices that have been implemented.
 
Sean Fenske: How much of a challenge has on-time delivery been over the last few years and will it continue going forward?
 
Brigham Brandon: Much like other players in our space, our ability to provide on-time delivery has been challenged significantly by a tremendous increase in variability in supplier performance, labor availability, and demand signals. The combined impacts have resulted in greater use of expediting, overtime, and inventory buffers in an attempt to maintain OTD performance.
 
Will this challenge continue? I have to say yes. The entire ecosystem is still stressed, from labor to suppliers, and that’s going to take a while to work its way through. We often see a problem get better in one area, while simultaneously declining in another. For example, we might see improvements in the resins market, but quickly behind it, metals suppliers notify us of a significant lead-time extension. I don’t think variability will ever go away entirely, and consequently, our focus is to proactively identify and mitigate risk as much as possible while increasing communication to our customers.
 
Fenske: Given the shifting dynamics with regard to demand created by the pandemic, how have you handled capacity concerns?
 
Brandon: We’ve deployed multiple strategies to better manage capacity. First, we work to understand and validate the demand signal. We do this by working closely with our customers through an S&OP process. This allows us to truly assess near- and long-term demand. That information is then fed through our Kinaxis Rapid Response advanced planning system, which gives us the ability to model different levels of demand in near real-time, and review various scenarios with our customers. Once confirmed, any new capacity gaps will trigger a response from a cross-functional team to evaluate and enact solutions.
 
Some of those strategies include:

• Cross validating products across multiple pieces of equipment to enable surge capacity where needed.
• Procuring new equipment to expand maximum capacity. New technologies can enable increased efficiencies and unstaffed runtimes, simultaneously increasing capacity while reducing dependence on scarce labor.
• Cross-training employees to provide increased technical flexibility.
• Leveraging Viant’s network to level load production across multiple sites or temporarily shifting labor or technical support to the constrained site.
• When second or third tier capacity is not sufficient, we evaluate changing suppliers vs. insourcing the production to a Viant site.

 
Fenske: Labor shortages were a concern prior to the pandemic, but they’ve only gotten worse. How have you been impacted and what are you doing to resolve the issue?
 
Brandon: We’ve seen an uptick in turnover and absenteeism due to COVID, and longer hiring cycles. We’ve worked hard to retain employees and attract new qualified talent through efforts aimed at improved recruiting, onboarding, and training. For our employees, we implemented enhanced COVID safety protocols and increased focus on our culture and employee engagement. Employee referrals remain a top avenue for hiring success and that only happens when you listen to your employees and actively demonstrate their feedback matters.
 
For example, our Collegeville facility recently piloted an Operational Excellence initiative aimed at enhancing our culture and mitigating labor shortages. Through the deployment of local job market analysis, walk-in job fairs, new hire orientation, new training programs, and a great deal of teamwork from caring employees, our Collegeville facility was able to increase headcount by 56 percent to meet this unprecedented demand. We take “In It For Life” seriously when it comes to careers at Viant, so we developed a career laddering program, which gives associates a clear understanding of how to grow at the organization.
 
Fenske: What has the availability of materials from your own suppliers been? How are you working with them to handle it?
 
Brandon: After a long period of rising costs and lengthening lead-times, we are finally seeing some stabilization in the metals raw materials market, although with generally much longer lead-times than before. A large part of addressing availability has been crafting a well-vetted strategy when it comes to category management. This involves a multi-prong approach with attributes such as, value creation programs, sustainability and social responsibility initiatives, risk management, and the creation of a strategic supplier list. This structured approach to collaborative sourcing allows us to radically improve the value delivered to our customers.
 
Fenske: Have you changed suppliers, or have you revisited procedures in how you work with your suppliers to attempt to alleviate delivery time concerns?
 
Brandon: We’ve increased PO coverage to secure materials and employed alternate sourcing to secure supply for our customers. In some cases, we’ve bought metal materials larger than needed and leveraged our internal capabilities to reduce to correct sizing for production. We’ve increased our visits to supplier facilities and are sharing information more than ever. Establishing strong relationships with suppliers and fully understanding their capabilities is critical.
 
Additionally, one of our driving values at Viant is the concept of continuous improvement. Sourcing and procurement analytics are areas where we have developed key systems to evaluate the risk associated with our suppliers. Creating databases across indirect and direct spend, or material—resin or metals—gives us the ability to efficiently leverage data. We can assess risk based on things like supplier location, financial profile, complexity, and more. By combining all of those attributes into a score card, we leverage those insights to drive efficient and risk-averse outcomes. These continuous improvements allow us to optimize suppliers in near real-time.
 
Fenske: Have the systems you use for operations and manufacturing effectiveness changed at all? Or have you implemented any revisions to them?
 
Brandon: We continue to invest in efficiency through the use of OpEx, advanced planning systems, and increased levels of automation. Our Kinaxis Rapid Response system gives us the ability to adapt to customer’s changing requests and forecasts, as well as the ability to foresee capacity challenges into the future. We also understand the importance of talent. Simply put, people power processes. In response, we’ve hired supply chain professionals from leading medical device and other tier one companies with direct experience on our customers’ side of the business. They have used that experience to cultivate an excellent network supported by processes such as category management and supplier scorecards.
 
When it comes to operational excellence, we have dedicated resources at each site driving improvement projects and culminating in an annual company-wide spirited competition for the best projects in Safety, Quality, Service, Cost, and Culture. Continuous improvement in both the manufacturing and operation of our facilities is critical to efficient manufacturing and on-time delivery.
 
Fenske: Do you have any additional comments you’d like to share based on any of the topics we discussed or something you’d like to tell orthopedic device manufacturers?
 
Brandon: I’d like to stress to our customers how critical it is to engage with suppliers as early as possible. Examples of partnering that led to shared success include the use of DFM to mitigate technical risk and streamline the product launch process, collaborating on the selection of materials to ensure performance and availability, and agreeing on inventory strategies that position buffers at the right point in the supply chain. Collaboration is key to long-term success.
 
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