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The pandemic led to an increase in demand for many items, including N95 respirators, isolation gowns, and nasal swabs. In addition, the public needed masks and disinfectants, which led to shortages. The medical industry needed to make up the differences. Once the supplies are depleted, MedTech has to keep up with the needs or they face greater challenges. Fortunately, MedTech has been able to remain stable during the pandemic. 

Maximize What Is Available

The first way that MedTech remained stable was by requesting efficient allocation of what was available. For example, they requested that the government centralize the process for who would receive ventilators. When supplies are in different places and demand suddenly increases, it needs to be managed by coordinating the effort. MedTech was able to accomplish this to maintain stability. 

Find Similar Supplies in Other Industries

During the pandemic, MedTech was able to find supplies used in other industries that could be repurposed. For example, they had respirators from construction industries. There might be slight differences, so it is important to make sure the supplies will work, but by finding gloves and other necessary equipment, they could remain stable. 

Make Better Use of What They Have

Another way they remained stable was by making sure that they could use what they had. This required looking at supply chains and making sure that everything was working efficiently. They could look at automation to make sure that they could optimize the efficiency of the supply chain. It is important to look at one at a time and then automate it and keep moving forward. The MedTech industry was able to increase capacity by taking this approach, which allowed them to ramp up production to meet demands. 

Increase Production Capacity

There are a lot of requirements before MedTech can increase production capacity. They need capital, process development, and training programs, and the timeline for increasing production can take years. They can recruit manufacturing organizations to support part or all of the process, or they can forge relationships with manufacturers in other industries that have the capacity to produce what they need. This can shorten the timeline for increasing production.