May 10, 2022
INTRICON R&D VP DAVE LIEBL SHARES ADVICE ON HOW OEMs CAN LEVERAGE OUTSOURCED PARTNERS FOR COMPLEX PRODUCTS IN CHALLENGING TIMES
Medical Products Outsourcing, a leading media authority in the med device industry, recently called on Dave Liebl, vice president of research and development at Intricon, for insight for its latest article on how outsourced partners like Intricon can meet the demanding design challenges from OEMs.
He highlights how trends will lead to less-invasive approaches for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and non-invasive technologies to help visualize and/or transmit key health data for analysis, and how Intricon is overcoming supply chain challenges for its customers.
“Lead times for raw materials required to prototype new product concepts have definitely increased—often two- or three-fold—from pre-pandemic levels,” he notes in the article. “Thus, companies that can find a way to prototype faster in the current environment will rise to the top.”
Other trends Dave touches on in the article include:
- Product design trending toward smaller, smarter devices that combine multiple technologies
- Speeding up product design and development by outsourcing to trusted and experienced contract manufacturers
- Electronics that are used to protect the health of patients and physicians, such as electromagnetic field (EF) generators and sensor technologies as alternatives to fluoroscopy
- More frequent use of FEA as product designs become smaller and more complicated, especially for the evaluation of complex assemblies
The article, posted online and in the May issue of Medical Product Outsourcing, ends with Dave’s observation that “Joint development manufacturers (JDMs) like Intricon have systems that are nimble and are ‘external eyes’ with deep category expertise to foresee both opportunities and challenges—now and down the road—during the manufacturing stage. As more OEMs experience this, they embrace the practice of third-party development for its efficiency and are able to leverage the resources and the expertise of the joint development manufacturer, that then becomes a valued extension of their team.”
Article in MP&O May, 2022 issue: https://bit.ly/3Nnu04R
April 11, 2022
INTRICON ENGINEERS MENTOR ROBOTICS COMPETITION TEAM
Intricon medical products engineer Austin Barrett has been a mentor to the Holy Family Catholic High School Robotics Team for the past five years. Austin dedicates approximately 200 hours each year to the team during the robotics build and competition season, from January through April. Austin works with students, teaching robotics building and development, along with teamwork and communication skills. This year, Intricon senior process development engineer Julia Rusciano joined Austin as another mentor from Intricon for the team.
On April 8 and 9, 2022, the robotics team competed in the Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional Competition, presented by Medtronic. The team, called Pyrobotics, placed 15th out of 55 teams in the qualification rounds and went on to be the 7th seed in the quarter finals. While the team lost in the finals, its robot reached the highest level of traverse climbing in the competition.
Intricon supports Austin, Julia, and the members of the Holy Family robotics team as a team sponsor.
FIRST® Robotics Competition teams design, program, and build a robot, starting with a standard kit of parts and common set of rules, to play in themed, head-to-head challenges. Teams also build a brand, develop community partnerships for support, and work to promote STEM in their local community as part of their role in the program.
Under strict rules and limited time and resources, students are challenged to build industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game in alliance with other teams. Students at all skill levels participate — technical or non-technical. The robotics competition gives high school students and their adult mentors the opportunity to work and create together to solve a common problem.
April 20, 2022
INTRICON RANKS HIGH IN GENDER DIVERSITY
Intricon was recognized as an Honor Roll company in the 2021 Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership. The census is the results of an annual study, conducted by St. Catherine University, which tracks how public companies are diversifying their boards and executive leadership teams by adding more women.
Intricon was one of only 15 other companies in Minnesota to earn Honor Roll status, which requires adding or diversifying board members and executives to achieve a minimum of 20% of corporate directors and/or a minimum of 20% of executive officers who are women. Intricon was recognized for its pursuit of gender parity at the top levels of the company.
An Intricon team attended the presentation of the research results by the university and Twin Cities Business Monthly, which publishes the research. CEO Scott Longval accepted an honorarium at the event and was featured in the publication of the results, commenting “We knew we needed greater diversity and more women in management and leadership roles. We were more conscious about how we thought about that as we were filling roles within the organization.” In addition to filling its CHRO and interim CFO executive positions with women leaders, Scott and the board also welcomed director Heather Rider, a global human resources specialist with 30 years of experience at medical technology companies, and Kathleen Pepski, former CFO of Hawkins industrial company, as directors.
All leaders at Intricon plan to continue to cultivate a culture of diversity and inclusion as the company grows. According to Scott, “The best way to solve complex problems is to have diverse views and experiences at the table. Looking at issues from all perspectives provides greater outcomes for Intricon.”
July 7, 2022
This Week in Hearing Webcast features Dr. David Akbari, Intricon’s Senior Medical Science, Clinical, and Regulatory Affairs Liaison
Intricon’s resident audiologist, Dr. David Akrabi, was recently interviewed by Dr. Amyn Amlani of Hearing Health and Technology Matters media for a This Week in Hearing webcast. Dr. Akbari was asked to share more about a recent study that examined the performance of Intricon’s Sentibo self-fit hearing aid audio technology to professionally fit hearing aids. The study compared sound quality, fitting process, and overall benefits of the two hearing aids, each with different fitting approaches.
Intricon commissioned the study to measure a minimum of non-inferiority of the self-fit to the pro-fit, yet findings revealed that satisfaction and experience of the self-fitting technology ranked higher than the professionally fit model.
The webcast discussion also covers how the Sentibo self-fit method uses a proprietary psychoacoustic audibility model vs. the standard National Acoustic Laboratory (NAL-NL2) prescriptive fitting method.
Drs. Akrabi and Amlani discuss the state of the hearing aid industry and the impending OTC market, which will provide more accessible and affordable quality hearing aids to millions of people with mild to moderate hearing loss. They predict that products and service delivery models will be enhanced when hearing aids become available over the counter.
Sentibo, which is already used in Germany and is currently awaiting regulatory clearance, was designed by Intricon with human factors in mind — to make complex technology as simple to use as possible.
“Meeting patients where they are and empowering them is the future of hearing health,” said Dr. Amlani.
Click here to listen to the webcast: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinhearing/episodes/071—Comparing-Self-Fit-Hearing-Aids-to-Professionally-Fit-Devices-Intricons-Clinical-Trial-e1krnj5/a-a87a8fr
March 30, 2022
Intricon CHRO Recognized Nationally for Leading HR Transformation and Growth
HRO Today Magazine names Sara Hill Finalist
Chief Human Resources Officer Sara Hill was recently named a finalist for the annual Chief Human Resource Officer of the Year Award, presented by HRO Today magazine, in recognition of her accomplishments at Intricon. Sara will travel to Philadelphia for the CHRO of the Year Awards gala at the HRO Today Forum North America, where final winners will be announced on May 3, 2022. Sara is one of 33 finalists from a wide variety of industries who will be honored at the event.
The CHRO of the Year Awards was started in 2014 and honors CHROs with the capabilities to adapt to competitive business environments and deliver insights needed for HR transformation. The program recognizes CHROs who help drive workforce initiatives through innovation and achieve measurable excellence in employee engagement and retention. Honored CHROs are responsible for providing leadership for talent acquisition and retention, business growth, and workforce culture.
Sara is an experienced, proven HR leader who plays a leadership role in Intricon achieving its aggressive growth goals, primarily through strategic organizational development plans and talent management initiatives. Since joining Intricon in April 2020, Sara has initiated several major HR initiatives at the company, from how Intricon approaches employee engagement, to internal communications, organizational and leadership development, and work structures. At Intricon, Sara also leads compliance; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives; and the company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)/sustainability program.
Competition for the 2022 CHRO of the Year Award is high. This year, judges received numerous nominations for a variety of categories, including non-profit, middle-market, enterprise, sustainable workforce, and for its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Micromedical tolerance stack-up: Insight into the inner workings of high-density microelectronic medical devices
June 22, 2022
Intricon’s Manufacturing Engineering Manager Darren Gilmer provides Medical Design and Outsourcing readers with an article on the importance of tolerance stack-up in micromedical components for medical devices.
At a time when the future of micro miniature medical devices seems unlimited, one fundamental reality remains firmly in place — the sizes and shapes of human anatomy. From blood vessels to ear canals, respiratory passages to neural pathways, the physical dimensions of the body available for life-saving and life-enhancing medical therapies exist within a minimum and maximum range. For medical devices, the general rule for reaching deeper into the tiniest areas of the body is “the smaller, the better.”
The article outlines key considerations when a thousands of an inch in design can make a significant impact in accelerating a product’s time to market.
Read Article here: https://bit.ly/3OheGrr.
Learn more about Intricon’s expertise in microelectronics here.
Note: The illustration shown above is an example only. Project specifications will vary. Illustration copyright of Intricon.
Intricon Featured on Medical Alley Podcast
Founder Mark Gorder and CEO Scott Longval join Medical Alley for a discussion on Intricon’s history and future
Intricon founder Mark Gorder and president and CEO Scott Longval joined Frank Jaskulki, vice president of intelligence at Medical Alley, for a podcasted discussion on Intricon’s 45-year legacy in the micromedical industry and the future of the company.
Medical Alley is The Global Epicenter of Health Innovation and Care®, a place that healthcare leaders call home. The Medical Alley Association is a community of these leaders, who represent the world’s highest concentration of top innovation and healthcare companies. Minnesota, where Intricon is based, is at the heart of Medical Alley. The Medical Alley region is home to the nation’s largest private health insurer and more than 1,000 med device and healthcare companies, employing millions of people worldwide. Medical Alley has history, as the birthplace of implantable medical technology, collaborative care delivery, and innovative health plan models. The Smithsonian has recognized six “Great Places of Invention” in the U.S., including only one for healthcare: Medical Alley.
Intricon is a key part of both the history and the future of this ecosystem. The company designs, develops, manufactures, and even packages microminiature components for companies worldwide. It is a pioneer in micromedical med devices.
Hear more about the Intricon story by listening to the Medical Alley podcast here.