Medical Device Manufacturing: Gowning Procedure Harmonization strategy
Open Access
- Author:
- Daftari, Rohan
- Area of Honors:
- Supply Chain and Information Systems
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Robert Alexander Novack, Thesis Supervisor
Saurabh Bansal, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Medical Device Manufacturing
- Abstract:
- Efficient and safe gowning procedures are an essential components of productive medical device manufacturing practices within a supply chain, but without standardized process for gowning existing and best practices being unique to respective firms, businesses will expose themselves to an abundance of risks if they do not focus on this topic. Specifically, a weak gowning procedure leaves firms susceptible to quality issues during production, safety concerns for employees, high unit costs of equipment, and many more serious consequences. Another issue arises through the fact that there is no common best practice for gowning in the medical device manufacturing industry, so one company’s success with gowning procedures cannot be directly transferred to another due to unique needs for each business. This thesis will analyze how a leading player in the medical device manufacturing industry, Company A, manages their gowning procedures across their global sites as well as recommend how they can improve this specific area within their supply chain to benefit the firm as a whole. Six leaders from Company A were interviewed with a standard set of questions which were made to gain insight into Company A’s current issues with gowning and areas for potential improvement. These interview results, along with data collected of gowning procedures at every global site were combined to provide employee driven recommendations. The results were compared with the limited academic research in this space and deliverables were made for company A based on these results, explaining ways they can improve their supply chain through change. The final recommendations for Company A focus on improved communication and the formation of a harmonized gowning procedure. The key takeaway from this project and thesis is finding ways to improve gowning procedures specifically for Company A, which will lead to many benefits for their overall supply chain.