Medical diagnostic device reliability improvement and prediction tools-lessons learned

To be successful in the medical diagnostic industry, companies must strive to be the most cost competitive supplier. Abbott Laboratories has traditionally been diligent in pursuing several avenues for cost reduction including raw material supplier contracting, outsourcing, as well as direct labor reduction through design for manufacturability, inventory and scrap reduction. Today, Abbott focuses increased attention on reliability improvements as a means to cost efficiencies. While traditional methods of cost improvement are never seen by the final customer, reliability improvements result in a more satisfied customer. Abbott has used lessons learned from past product development to create in-house reliability engineering tools. These tools help predict reliability of development products; but more importantly, they help Abbott build reliability into the product.