English patient: Recovery through design in the medical sector, The

Design Management Review, Spring 2004 by Smart, Kirsty, Phillips, Mark, Press, Mike

Facing stiff competition, the challenge at Mediplan was straightforward-innovate or die. Partnering with an industrial design team from a local university, Kirsty Smart, Mark Phillips, and Mike Press tell how the company staked its future on developing a new nurse-call hand unit. Ultimately, however, this story is not about product design, but rather about design as it can transform and revitalize a moribund corporate culture.

How can a small manufacturer of medical equipment compete in a highly globalized market? This was the problem faced by a UK company that took a long view, invested in design, and tapped into the industrial design expertise of its local university.

Mediplan Ltd. is a small manufacturer of medical equipment, based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The region has been described as "post-industrial," with seemingly little future for manufacturers. There was a time, of course, when just about every knife and fork in the world had Made in Sheffield stamped on it. From its location in the center of England, Sheffield built on its cutlery trade to become a center for steel production and manufacture.

Sheffield today is a very different city than it was 150 years ago-even 15 years ago. In the 1980s, there were 22 coal mines in the surrounding South Yorkshire region. Today there is one-and the steel industry has restructured to become leaner and more efficient. The city sees more of a future in terms of creative industries, such as film production, and in a growing finance sector than in the traditional industries upon which Sheffield was founded. Faced with keen international competition, manufacturing in the region continues to face an uncertain future.

The survival of manufacturers rests in part on the success of the region's technology transfer initiatives, which seek to link the expertise of Sheffield's two universities to the needs of local business. Supported by European Union funding, the initiatives target firms with the potential to develop world-class manufacturing in niche market areas. The past 10 years have seen significant regeneration, which is reenergizing the whole region.

Mediplan Ltd. was an ideal case for treatment under this strategy. In six years, the company has transformed itself into an innovative manufacturer that has revitalized its position in the market, gaining hard-won new export sales and strengthening its hold of key UK markets. And its revitalization has come through design. As managing director Alan Hinchcliffe points out, "Design is now a key ingredient for us-we've seen at first hand the many benefits it can bring."

Taking the risk

Mediplan specializes in the manufacture and installation of nurse-call systems. These systems are a vital link between patients and hospital staff; when patients require assistance they can summon help, and in an emergency situation, medical staff can call in "crash" teams. The company's main market for nurse-call equipment was in the UK, although there had been some success in selling to the Far East.

However, by 1997 the company faced increasingly tough competition. Not only were other medical product suppliers continuing to innovate and present keen price competition, but the telecom sector was also muscling into this business. Products needed to meet the demands of new UK and European legislation, together with providing the telephone-style speech capabilities that were being provided by competitors. Simply, it was a case of innovate-or die.

As sales director Alex Hinchcliffe explains: "I was pretty certain that we needed a whole new approach to product development. We knew our market and what was happening out there. We knew what our customers wanted, but at the time we didn't have the product to deliver what they wanted. Frankly, there was something a bit 'agricultural' about the look and feel of our products. I didn't know it right then, but I know now. What we needed was design."

Despite its technical expertise in the hospital communications equipment business, Mediplan had neither an in-house product design team nor any experience of working with design consultants. So the company approached the newly established Advanced Product Development Centre (APDC).

The APDC was set up by Sheffield's two universities as part of the technology transfer initiative, to harness their joint expertise in engineering and industrial design, and to provide a service to small and medium-size enterprises in the region. With subsidies from the European Regional Development Fund, clients were required to meet only 50 percent of project costs.

Mediplan's Alan Hinchcliffe, Alex Hinchcliffe, and technical director Gary Bell met with the industrial design team from Sheffield Hallam University to start on a project that was not only to provide Mediplan with a highly competitive new product range, but also to transform the culture of the company from a conservative "manufacturing" mindset to that of a designled and customer-focused innovator in the marketplace.

Apartnership approach