Winner of the Award for Engineering Excellence

Aim: To increase the company’s sales turnover, exports and profits by improving the design and performance of its unique Mennen orthopaedic bone plates.

The partnership has achieved an improved orthopaedic bone plate, which is 150% stronger than its predecessor, and a patent application has been submitted for the new, novel design. The company has established inhouse bioengineering expertise with R&D capability, ensuring regulatory approval of the new implant, which is now CE marked. Two further new products are currently being developed.

Company benefits

The KTP partnership has resulted in a significantly improved implant for bone fracture fixation with additional uses, together with the technological data required for successful marketing worldwide. Sales of the new plate have increased the company’s market share from 5% to 11.6%. Sales turnover has increased by 111%, exports by 109% and profit by 476%. The new structured approach to R&D has enabled the company to enhance its quality management systems certification to the highest levels, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 13485:2003.

Academic benefits

The framework of the partnership and the results achieved have clearly focused the importance of industrial input at each stage of R&D. Eight undergraduate and postgraduate projects have already been spun off, providing valuable industrial exposure to the students. The five papers already presented at international conferences and the two papers submitted for journal publication all help to raise the profile of the Engineering Department, nationally and internationally, in the field of medical devices research. The success of the project has attracted a further NPL grant aided project involving both partners.

Associate benefits

Christos Pappas, the Associate, has increased his knowledge and understanding of engineering principles and improved his technical skills and capabilities. Full involvement in all the relevant company functions (manufacturing, regulatory, financial, market research and marketing) provided invaluable experience and illustrated the importance and interdependence of each function in the process of developing a new product and bringing it to market. A PhD from the University of Exeter and an NVQ Level 4 in Management from the Chartered Institute of Management, together with the acquired skills, will lead to Chartered Engineer status.

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