Medical device company partners with ToolKeepers to provide a high-quality educational resource
ToolKeepers helps people in many industries do their best work – even medical professionals working to make life better for their patients.
ToolKeepers recently worked with a company that delivers a set of devices required to treat the most common of all birth defects - Clubfoot. This pediatric orthopedic condition that affects the bones and tendons of the feet is diagnosed prior to or at birth and affects 200,000 infants annually. Clubfoot is treatable with non-surgical treatment. Left untreated, it will cause life-long disability that makes walking extremely difficult and painful.
Medical treatment teams and parents work together to cure a common birth defect
Clubfoot treatment involves multiple specialized therapeutic tools; casts, specialized shoes, stabilizing bars, and more. At the moment of their baby’s diagnosis, parents consult with physicians, technicians, and pediatric physical therapists to begin the treatment that they will also play a critical role in until their child’s 5th birthday.
As any parent can imagine, the barrage of new information that comes with learning about your baby’s potential disability is extremely unsettling. As soon as a parent understands the role they’ll play in their baby’s treatment (which enjoys a 95% success rate) their anxiety subsides and hope returns.
What do tools have to do with treating a childhood health disorder?
MD Orthopaedics delivers the therapeutic tools used in the Ponseti method, the global standard non-surgical treatment for Clubfoot. They came to ToolKeepers for help packaging a set of medical models and literature that serve as training aids for students and clinicians who will treat the disorder. Doctors and physical therapists can also use the kits to help parents understand their child’s treatment path.
A win-win solution
MD Orthopaedics was sourcing and assembling the kits themselves until connecting with ToolKeepers to learn about the services we offered. MD Orthopaedics’ Director of Operations, Nathan Losey recalls “We were making our own, but ToolKeepers gave us a better, less expensive product. By outsourcing to ToolKeepers, we’ve gained back production capacity and have a better product so it’s a win-win.”
The ToolKeepers cases include three stacking trays designed to store rubber foot models, plastic casts, and medical foot models with display stands. The trays and educational literature fit perfectly into SKB model 3i-2015 BE cases supplied by ToolKeepers. The process of designing the kit started with the client’s original design that was refined for production using waterjet cutting technology and ToolKeepers best quality 4-pound HDPE foam. Before the production of 50 identical cases, a prototype kit was test-fit with MD Orthopaedics components and delivered to the client for approval.
The ToolKeepers “sweet spot”
According to Clark Plummer, ToolKeepers Director of Strategic Accounts, “The work we did for MD Orthopaedics is really our sweet spot. They came to us with an idea of what they needed, they just wanted to do it better, faster, and cheaper. Our team quickly delivered an upgraded solution that integrated our full range of services – design, waterjet cut foam, assembly, and even procurement of the perfect case.” Add the fact that this company and its new kit is helping thousands of babies live healthier lives, and this might be one of the most rewarding projects we’ve had the pleasure to partner on.
If you're using your precious resources to create toolkits for your operation, contact Clark to tell us about your needs and discuss how outsourcing to ToolKeepers can save you time and money and give your customers or internal team a better experience.
ToolKeepers creates custom toolbox inserts that help companies do their best work. We'd love to talk about your needs.
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