Johnson Electric Augments Services for Medical OEMs

OUTSOURCING NEWS

Johnson Electric, a provider of motion actuators for the medical device industry, has formed a global network to cater to medical device manufacturers. The network, Johnson Medtech, is meant to provide manufacturers with access to a single source for design, prototyping, and manufacturing capabilities. Johnson Medtech brings together the device design and manufacturing expertise of five existing Johnson Electric companies. (See the sidebar, “The Five behind Johnson Medtech.”)

“Most medical device companies are spending too much time managing multiple suppliers, navigating the complexities of outsourced manufacturing, and making engineering compromises,” says Jim Dick, senior vice president of Johnson Electric. Dick believes that the company's local consulting and engineering services, combined with advanced manufacturing and prototyping processes, will help give its customers a competitive edge.

Johnson Medtech has regional engineering teams in the United States, Hong Kong and mainland China, Germany, Japan, and Israel. The teams are available to help companies solve design challenges that range from developing nonmagnetic actuators that function inside MRI machines to creating motion products for surgical robotics. Working prototypes can be produced in less than a month, if necessary.

Manufacturing operations are conducted in the United States and Europe. The firm also manufactures products at Johnson City, a 5 million-sq-ft facility in Shajing, China, that handles both small prototype design assignments and large projects. That facility is exclusively devoted to the design and manufacture of medical devices.

The network also uses Johnson Electric's facilities and expertise in micromotors, solenoids, switches, sensors, flexible circuits, and device assembly.

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