Empower Medical Devices Adopts Stage-Gate Process to Ensure Success of New Medical Device Concepts

Gaylord, MI – Empower Medical Devices, a medical device design, manufacturing and commercialization company that partners with physician inventors to bring medical device ideas to life, has adopted the Stage-Gate* Process for its comprehensive operations to take medical device ideas from concept to market.  The Stage-Gate process mitigates risk and facilitates a flawless product launch.

The Harvard Business School finds 80% of new product launches fail; other sources can be as high as 95%**.  In order to dramatically reduce risk, Empower Medical Devices has adopted the Stage-Gate principles and tools to conduct a complete analysis and provide a holistic and systematic development process.  The use of Stage-Gate ensures the successful launch of a new medical device.

Users of Stage-Gate process tools will significantly reduce the risks associated with a new product launch. The process has been proven to:

• Get the product to market 2.3X faster
• Achieve profitability objectives 72% of the time
• Be 12X more productive
• Provide greater visibility to enable better governance
• Improve collaboration within internal company teams and with external partners
• Enable earlier detection of failures and higher success rates
• Maintain projects on budget and on time
• Provide a better product launch with higher customer satisfaction

Process Model

The process model adopted at Empower Medical Devices is a direct take-off of the Stage-Gate Idea-to-Launch process model: Investigation > Concept Development > Design > Validation > Launch

Gatekeepers & Gate Reviews

Critical to the Stage-Gate® process, gatekeepers are a decision-making group comprised of company executives and managers, and the medical professional/inventor.

A formal Gate Review is conducted after each step in the process, with the medical professional included – this is a key decision point involving the doctor. If the project passes the review, we decide to move onto the next step, determine time frames, actions required, etc.

The Gatekeepers’ function is to make decisions:

• Go/Kill/Hold/Recycle
• Establish prioritization level
• Agree upon action plan & deliverables
• Commit resources
• Set the date and deliverables for the next gate
• The team is informed in person – immediately

For more information, please visit www.empowermedicaldevices.com or call 317-690-0764.

About Stage-Gate

Robert G. Cooper is one of the most influential thought-leaders on innovation in the business world today. He pioneered many ground-breaking discoveries in product innovation, including the Stage-Gate* Idea-to-Launch Process, now implemented by almost 80% of North American companies. Having spent 40+ years studying the practices and pitfalls of 3000+ new product projects in thousands of companies, he has assembled the world’s most comprehensive research in the field of product innovation management.

For more information on the Stage-Gate® process and its founders, visit:
www.stage-gate.com/our-founders.

About Empower Medical Devices

Empower Medical Devices LLC partners with physician inventors to help them bring their innovative medical device ideas and concepts to life.  The company has established a full-service integrated approach to product development which includes Planning (ideation & concept, business model options, market assessment, capital infusion, proven processes and tools), Design and Development (design engineering and prototype development), Validation (testing and validation, patent and regulatory approval, sourcing and equipment), and Product Launch (manufacturing and marketing).

Empower Medical Devices differs from other resources for physician inventors as it offers a full-service and integrated approach, taking a rough idea or completed design through a comprehensive A to Z process to bring the product to market.  The company utilizes the Stage-Gate* Process to conduct a complete analysis and provide a holistic and systematic process to ensure the device concept is successful. In addition, Empower Medical Devices has the financial resources to provide the capital required for the entire operation.  

We consider our relationships with our physician inventor partners to be life-long commitments and are therefore open about all aspects of our operation.  We share all information and are fully transparent, as we involve our partners every step of the way.  

Empower Medical Devices has its own world-class engineering and manufacturing teams and facilities to support the development of medical devices.  Over 20 years of operational experience allows us to properly manage the design and production of any medical device, anywhere.

Formed in 2017, Empower Medical Devices includes experienced professionals and executives in the medical field, engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing.  Empower Medical Devices is actively engaged with physician inventors to bring new innovative device ideas to market for the advancement of the medical profession and enhancement of patient care.

*Stage-Gate is a trademark owned by Stage-Gate International.

**MarketSmart Newsletter; May 3, 2017; “What Percentage of New Products Fail and Why?” Lonny Kocina; published by Media Relations Agency

Press Contact:
Steven E. Bork
Empower Medical Devices
847-778-6468
sbork@empowermedicaldevices.com