21 years of integrated design, engineering and implementation
Artromick, an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of medication, medical and technology carts for the long-term care and acute care industries, depended on Design Central for all design and engineering needs including vendor selection, tooling and sample approval and first production coordination.
Client
- Artromick
Industry
- Healthcare
Capabilities
- Strategy
- Product Design
- Engineering
Background
When Artromick came to Design Central they were held back by the manufacturing and production limitations of their highly fabricated medication cart line. Artromick had a strong hold on their market and customer base; what they needed was a new product that they could produce effectively while staying within budget. During the first successful project and over the next twenty years, Design Central gained an in-depth, strategic understanding of Artromick’s business and became their complete R&D provider, depended on to deliver research, design, engineering, and complete product implementation as Artromick continued its growth.
Results
Growing revenue over five-fold in a twenty-year period, Design Central helped Artromick dominate their core market of long-term care while expanding into new market segments such as acute care, medical carts and mobile computing. Design Central was an integral contributor to Artromick’s growth through three private equity transitions, as well as the evolution from a founder-owned company to a fully private equity-owned organization.
Strategy
During a two-decade relationship Artromick relied on Design Central to understand their evolving business model, production methods and ownership structures, as well as the dramatically changing long-term and acute care markets. Design Central did all of this with a focus on setting the strategy direction for the continuing product development cycles.
Design
Nurses, pharmacies and administrators in nursing homes and hospital systems were some of the stakeholders Artromick’s product design had to accommodate. Usability, integrated features, flexibility for specific applications and mobility were critical to the success of the design of all Artromick products.
Engineering
As a low volume, light assembly operation, Artromick needed materials and process selection and value engineering to balance low cost of goods, capital investment and low weight for mobility; all while creating high durability and flexible modular systems. Design Central was Artromick’s total solutions provider, supplying complete electro-mechanical system development from concept to production approval for dozens of products.