Medtech Snapshot Podcast: Perry Payne - International Product Transfer

In this episode of Medtech Snapshot Podcast Perry Payne, SVP Global Operations, leads us through the complexities and considerations when transitioning a commercialized MedTech product internationally for production purposes.

Transcript:

Travis: 

Welcome back to another Medtech snapshot: the one question one answer medical device podcast. Today we're getting into some global operations, global supply chain. With me is Perry Payne. Perry is on the executive side for global operations. And we're going to dive into a couple things having to do with product transfers as well as just creating product excellence and production excellence within operations. So stay with us. 

 Welcome aboard! So I figured we'd first start off with talking about transfers internationally. So I'm going to lay out a quick scene I'd love to just get your thoughts on how you've dealt with this before. So, you know, if you're a device OEM and you're looking to transfer a commercial product internationally: what are some of the key considerations you've dealt with in your career, when you're looking at this from a strategic planning perspective? 

 Perry: 
Embrace the fact that you don't know what you don't know. And challenge why you want to do this. And I really mean challenge this. So, if you think about why it is you want to move your products internationally. Is it because of cost? Is it because of labor opportunities? Is it because of proximity to market? What's the rationale behind it? So, really push that button to find out. Do you really want to do that for those? And have good solid reasons.  

The other thing, as well, is to really define what it is you're going to set up so if you're just moving manufacturing--for cost, for example--that's not all you're moving. There's an ecosystem around that that supports it. Manufacturing engineering, quality, receiving, inspection, and import / export regulatory, that need to be there for advice. 

So, if you move this to the other side of the planet are you prepared to have people on call 24 hours a day, or are you going to move that supporting ecosystem with it as well? If you're doing that for market proximity as well, then do you need to provide tech support for your local market? Do you need a call center? Do you know? So, there's a lot of things around the manufacturing that then are necessary in order to support it to be successful. So you've really got to define that very very clearly. And, so you know, it becomes a very large task imagining what that looks like. And then bracing yourself for what's necessary when you physically start thinking about the transfer. And then the transfer itself becomes something that's very very critical to have a very well of laid out strategy. 

If you 'lift and shift' what you've got, do you build a massive amount of inventory to cover you and hope nothing goes wrong? Do you run two facilities at the same time? If you run two facilities at the same time, you're starting something new. And if you're starting something new in a green field, or if you're starting something new in existing premises both have a lot of pitfalls and issues you have to work out. 

If you're starting something new and you've got something old that's depleting and ending, it's like, on one hand you're dealing with a toddler--raising a toddler. And every time you look away they've done something different. On the other hand, you're dealing with a drunken relative where you step in to do an intervention. And the same thing, if you look away he goes and gets drunk again, right? So you've got to you know have a very clear understanding of what you're trying to do.  

The new is exciting and people throw themselves at it in gusto. If you're winding something down people don't have the same enthusiasm because maybe that's the end of that facility. So, that is also super critical on how it impacts the transfer. So, if you're taking the product line itself and you want to do it fast because you're worried about that kind of thing, that's the 'lift and shift'.  

Are you doing that with clean master data, or are you going to fix that when you get there? You're going to fix that when you get there, boy it's going to be a lot of fun, right? Because the people that are there don't understand anything. That's the toddler piece of it, right? Same thing with the existing manufacturing. How much of that is art? How much of that is science? If you have a lot of tribal knowledge, how do you transfer that? And if those people are being let go how enthusiastic are they to do that? There's a lot to consider in how you look at the overall strategy for this transition. 

So to kind of summarize, really challenge why you want to do this. Don't focus on the illusion that moving it makes it better. 

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