Last spring, Vexos Inc. received a federal contract to produce 10,000 mechanical ventilators for COVID-19 patients in Canada. The global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and custom material solutions provider was part of a consortium that worked to ensure the Land of Maple Syrup had a sufficient ventilator supply for its hospitalized patients.
 
Vexos worked with Elemaster Group and JMP Solutions to manufacture the Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM), an electrically operated, microprocessor-controlled, pneumatically driven machine. The project truly was a collaborative effort: Elemaster designed the ventilator, JPM Solutions made the mechanical sub-assembly, and Vexos provided the electronics (and tested the device).
 
“We recognized the need to partner with an experienced EMS organization with strong manufacturing and supply chain presence in the medical sector, and the ability to meet U.S. and Canadian regulatory requirements,” Elemaster President/CEO Gabriele Cogliati said. “In Vexos, we have a partner that aligns with us and our goal, to provide the MVM Ventilator globally.”
 
Such partnerships were commonplace in the pandemic’s early days as companies from all walks of life (including healthcare) turned to EMS providers for help in navigating COVID-19-induced supply chain challenges and equipment shortages. Their expertise particularly was crucial in maintaining device connectivity and meeting the skyrocketing demand for telehealth services and remote patient monitoring technology.
 
Medical Product Outsourcing’s January/February feature, "Virtual Allies," examines the key role EMS providers played in helping address the medtech industry’s quickly-changing needs. Georgeann Snead, president and CEO of Electronic Design & Manufacturing, was among the experts interviewed for the story. Her full input is provided in the following Q&A.
 
Michael Barbella: What are customers demanding of their EMS providers?
Georgeann Snead: From EDMs' overall customer perspective, we’ve found that customers are looking for more support from their EMS providers. COVID-19 has intensified that as teams are forced to work from home. We’ve seen a significant increase in the need for test engineering support, because many of customers lack the bandwidth to do that in-house, especially when their teams are working from home.
 
Barbella: What qualities do OEMs look for in selecting EMS providers? How has this changed over the last five years (if at all)?
Snead: Customers are under more cost pressure. We’ve seen a split between existing customers and the market as a whole in how that is dealt with. Existing customers want to leverage our internal support capabilities such as engineering and automation expertise to reduce cost or control cost. Prospective customers are shopping more on price alone and this has intensified over the last year.
 
Barbella: Please discuss the biggest challenges EMS providers face regarding technology in the next five years. How is your company addressing these challenges?
Snead: Within our medical customer base we haven’t seen technology challenges because they tend to focus on proven technologies. That said, within the segments of our customers more focused on leading-edge technology, we do see challenges in newer component packaging styles and test complexity. This drives continuing investment in personnel and equipment.
 
Barbella: How has the OEM-EMS provider relationship changed in the wake of COVID-19?
Snead: One of the big challenges we’ve seen is that when customer teams are forced to work remotely, it is easy for them to focus on their individual tasks and lose sight of the big picture. We see our role as a central point that ensures all the pieces come together. It increases our engagement in terms of helping to drive the process. The other major relationship change is that there have been huge demand swings among our customers. Some projects came to a grinding halt, while others saw huge spikes in demand. It highlighted the partnership aspect of the EMS-OEM relationship. Customers needed flexibility that went far beyond the contractual terms of our relationship and we were willing to support them.
 
Barbella: What lessons—if any—have EMS providers learned from the pandemic that they can carry forward once the virus is brought under control?
Snead: I think the best lesson learned was that many of our practices in terms of supply chain relationships and inventory management served us well during the pandemic. We were also able to pivot to adopt safe workplace practices and operate continuously. That said, this year has encouraged us to look harder at worst case disruption scenarios to make sure we have backup plans in place for a broader range of contingencies.
 
Barbella: Were supply chain management skills tested by the pandemic? How did your company respond to the challenge? 
Snead: In some cases, our customers had sole-source suppliers that had factory shutdowns. Our engineering team had to get creative with options in some of those situations to identify alternate options.