IGS GeboJagema designs, manufactures, and validates high-precision molds for applications such as contact lenses, asthma inhalers, insulin pens, and blood-diagnostic devices. Over the past two decades, the Dutch company has become a strategic partner for large OEMs and top healthcare companies worldwide. The key, according to CEO Peter Mertens, is IGS GeboJagema’s unrivalled engineering expertise combined with their experience working closely with medical OEMs early in the product life cycle.

“Based in the heart of the most prominent technology hub of Europe, we have been able to assemble a team of world-class engineers,” Mertens explains. “Through their ambition and creativity, we develop cutting-edge and highly reliable molding solutions that give our clients an edge over their competitors.”

© IGS GeboJagema | https://www.igsgebojagema.nl

Thanks to the company’s focus on innovation, more and more leading industry players rely on the company’s engineering power in the development of new OEM products.

“To give an example, we are currently involved in all major strategic insulin pen projects,” Mertens says. “We like to partner with our clients as early as possible, so we can make the biggest impact. Whether it’s product design, or a smart mold solution that no one else can offer, we optimize every aspect of the manufacturing process to realize the lowest Total Cost of Ownership possible.”

One major player in the healthcare market states: “IGS GeboJagema has enabled our business to grow 10x over the past 25 years.” They specifically point to the Dutch company’s drive to innovate as having made the difference. “We would not have been successful if IGS had simply delivered the common, standard fare goods. The suite of mold hardware we developed together reduces costs, improves delivery time, and requires less maintenance and toolroom support. Our IGS molds are considered the gold standard within our company’s manufacturing arena.”

IGS GeboJagema’s US subsidiary will be based in Washington D.C. Initially, it will focus on providing faster and more convenient sales and service support to the company’s North-American client base. IGS GeboJagema USA will be launched at MD&M East on December 7, where the company will exhibit at booth 746.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain Expert, Lisa Anderson, MBA, CSCP, CLTD, President of LMA Consulting Group Inc., predicts that supply chain disruption will continue well beyond 2024. LMA Consulting Group works with manufacturers and distributors on strategy and end-to-end supply chain transformation to maximize the customer experience and enable profitable, scalable, dramatic business growth.

“The supply chain disruption is real and will last for quite some time,” Anderson comments. Every supply chain is a complex set of connections that spans from the supplier’s suppliers to product or service accessibility for the end-user. “Let’s look at the ‘why’ of the disruption. If you remove industry nuances, there are three main causes of the disruption. The first cause is labor. The pandemic exacerbated the ongoing drain of skilled boomer workers, many of whom took early retirement. The pandemic also caused workers to reassess their priorities. That resulted in people deciding that they didn’t like their industry or job or their boss. This has manifested into what many are calling the Great Resignation,” Anderson says.

Labor shortages exist in almost every industry and position.

“Manufacturing, transportation, distribution, none of these industries are exempt. And, most of these industries affect the consumer, who has felt the supply chain pinch the worst,” she adds.

Make sure to register for the Dec. 8, 2021 webinar where Lisa Anderson will be discussing the supply chain as we head into 2022.

 The second reason for supply chain disruption is misalignment.

“The pandemic caused a shift in demand. When people experienced an out-of-stock, they found new products that were either similar or better. This shift caused a supply chain misalignment: having the wrong products in the wrong places at the wrong time. So, even when the original products were in place, the demand was no longer there because it had shifted,” she says.

The most expensive reason for supply chain disruptions is equipment. “There is a shortage of equipment in all sectors. This includes chassis used to off-load trailers from ships. Trucks are in short supply, and laws are requiring equipment upgrades. Medical device equipment, farming and construction equipment, food processing equipment and equipment needed for technological upgrades are all in short supply,” Anderson notes.

“It all comes down to creating a never-ending supply chain circle, almost like the supply chain is chasing its proverbial tail. I don’t see that this is easily solvable by initiating new laws or enticing workers with more money. Sure, it can help, but it’s not an easy fix. It will take recognizing that there may be no new normal. Essentially, the supply chain will be in a constant state of evolution. The successful manufacturers will be adaptive, resilient and forward-thinking as they respond to changes in demand and recognize an ever-evolving supply chain,” she concludes.

Extensive slowdowns all along the supply chain are keeping electronics manufacturers from buying the components they need, when they need them, suggesting broader problems across the economy. However, for SMAC, a little encoder manufacturing group in Derry, New Hampshire, the crisis has led to record sales numbers in 2021.

Rapid initial design contributed to SMAC’s success. Application engineers respond to most inquiries within hours and, depending on the customer’s specifications, they produce prototypes in weeks. Take out the supply chain issues overseas competitors face and the US-based company has become an agile solution for encoders.

“No one else on the planet can create prototypes as quickly as we can,” claims one SMAC Application Engineer. While this statement may be difficult to verify, but certainly only a very select few can deliver price competitive encoder prototypes to U.S.-based companies as quickly as SMAC can.

SMAC setup their own encoder manufacturing group SMAC-EMC, to design, build and test their own line of optical encoders. Their engineering and manufacturing staff have over 25 years’ experience designing and building optical encoders at SMAC and at other major optical encoder companies. This staff has designed large volume, optical encoder products for Markem, Brooks Automation, Varian Corp, HP, Universal Instruments, Delphi, and other manufacturers from coast to coast.

Because SMAC developed and designed their own reflective and diffractive optical encoder in-house, it has given them the knowledge and understanding of all the attributes that go into choosing superior encoder optical components for their designs.

The road to advanced manufacturing starts with collaboration, and collaboration starts here. Let’s dive into how advanced manufacturing can improve the industry.

Advanced manufacturing is not a specific destination that all medical device companies need to reach. Instead, it’s a journey of incorporating tools and concepts that promote manufacturing maturity, which enables companies to successfully react to industry challenges while enabling process efficiency and flexibility.
In this webinar, industry experts from the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discuss with Siemens Digital Industries Software how to successfully implement existing technologies that are critical to advanced manufacturing.

You will learn:

• How technology, such as the digital twin, enables advanced manufacturing
• How to optimize the flow of information across digital threads
• What FDA’s role is in advancing the medical device industry
• How MDIC’s industry collaboration and Siemens’ solutions play a role in advanced manufacturing
• How companies move forward to develop the right strategy and technology partner

Registration for the Dec. 7, 2021 11AM ET webinar is open and free, sign up today!