Medical device manufacturer Equashield’s fully automated manufacturing facility has begun to fulfill bulk orders at a “record pace” this year, the company announced last month.
The New York-based company, which manufactures devices for healthcare workers to safely handle hazardous drugs, implemented proprietary AI and machine learning technology at its production facility in the north of Israel last year.
“Along with our twelve-month stockpile of raw materials and highly efficient automated manufacturing line, we were able to overcome the backlogs, build up our inventory, and fulfill most of our US orders within 48 hours from the start of 2022,” Chief Commercial Officer Tal Brod said in an email.
The medical device company receives anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand product orders every day, Brod said. Before the use of automation, “fulfillment times were bottlenecked by the prior manufacturing capability,” and frequently took over a week to complete, he added.
The automated system has improved accuracy, fill rates and product quality, Brod said. He added that by automating processes, from raw material entry to delivery of goods, production is less reliant on the workforce, helping to alleviate delays caused by a labor constraints.
Investing in automation has proven especially beneficial to the company amid the supply chain challenges sparked by COVID-19. “While we had no idea the challenges the COVID-19 era would bring, our insistence on building for the future has paid off dramatically over the past two years for nurses and pharmacists alike,” co-founder Marino Kriheli said in a statement.
