Customer Issue

• A large multi-national medical device OEM had too many suppliers performing the same task
• The company had substantial costs in managing and auditing these suppliers
• Quality and delivery were poor and inconsistent amongst the various vendors
• The company wanted to streamline and consolidate their many suppliers to a single preferred vendor without causing a disruption to their manufacturing schedule
• The company did not have the internal resources to manage the complex consolidation project

Solution

• Sterling worked with multiple customer departments (Executive, Purchasing, Engineering, Quality and Operations) to consolidate over 100 raw materials and 400 items
• Sterling sourced and procured raw materials from a variety of suppliers
• Sterling procured, installed and validated production equipment
• Sterling located, acquired and staffed a facility close to the customer’s production location
• Sterling worked with the customer to complete the First Article process for 400 items
• Sterling managed and led the entire process and the consolidation was completed in less than 4 months

Customer Result

• Sterling provided significant improvement in On-Time, Quality, and complete order performance
• The customer was able to reduce supplier management complexity and associated costs by consolidating from seven vendors to one
• The customer reduced annual supplier audit costs by over $100,000 USD
• Sterling managed the transition project with no parts supply disruption to the customer

Customer Issue

• A large U.S. based specialty Class 3 medical device manufacturer experienced decreased quality and increased costs with their previous component supplier who also was not able to meet the delivery requirements
• Parts were not being made according the company’s specifications and design
• The company decided to replace their previous supplier as a result of the issues experienced
• The outgoing supplier abruptly stopped shipping components to the company which increased the urgency of moving to a new supplier

Solution

• Sterling executed a complete component and assembly design review which resulted in corrected design specifications
• Sterling collaborated with the customer’s Purchasing and Engineering departments to devise improvements in design and manufacturability
• Sterling’s extensive market experience enabled the customer to introduce a number of innovations into their product design
• Sterling replaced the previous problematic component supplier

Result

• Sterling provided a superior product to the customer
• The customer’s costs were reduced significantly on 13 component assemblies
• Sterling was able to complete the re-design and implementation project in the tight timeframe required by the customer without affecting the customer’s production schedule
• Sterling has provided the components 100% on-time, 100% complete with 100% quality for the last 3 years

Customer Issue

• A large multi-national medical devise OEM had new usage requirements for one of their signature products. This necessitated a complete re-design of the key components of a critical sub-assembly
• Turnover in the company’s Research & Development and Engineering groups resulted in minimal knowledge of the original and new design parameters
• The company needed engineering and design guidance to complete the Product Reengineering Project

Solution

• Sterling’s design team collaborated with the customer’s R & D, Purchasing, Engineering and Production groups providing our best practice application experience which the customer incorporated into their new design
• As a result of internal customer resource constraints, Sterling provided prototypes and managed the design revision process for the customer allowing them to complete the project in a timely manner
• Sterling provided a turn-key, complete production supply solution

Customer Result

• The customer completed the product design and prototype project on-time and on-budget despite internal resource and knowledge limitations
• Sterling’s partnership enabled the customer to complete their Pre-market Notification process on schedule