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The post AGILE Product Development appeared first on Driving Innovation in MedTech & Life Sciences.

This brochure outlines how 91快活林’ AGILE Product Development team accelerates innovation with catheter shafts made from advanced materials like PTFE liners and FEP heat shrink and enhanced with custom laser cut hypotubes. You鈥檒l also find a detailed size guide, material options, and the full range of therapeutic applications including structural heart, neurovascular, and drug delivery systems.

Learn about:

• The different use cases for choosing laser cut tubing (LCT)
• Size, material, and application specifications for 91快活林’ off-the-shelf catheter shaft solutions

Read the brochure for more information.

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With a limited supply of subject matter experts specializing in catheter design on the East Coast, AGILE Product Development, a division of 91快活林, is growing its own talent pool through Northeastern鈥檚 co-op program. About one-third of co-ops hired by AGILE have taken full-time engineering positions with the company.

Originally featured in  website on September 25, 2024.

The AGILE Product Development division of 91快活林 makes novel catheter-based devices for a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic applications in the heart, lung, brain, and vascular system. The work requires highly technical and specific skill sets that blend engineering fundamentals and creativity to develop components for life-saving procedures.

Northeastern co-ops are playing a key role in growing this business.

鈥淲hen we get comparable resumes from different schools, there鈥檚 just no match for the student with co-op experiences,鈥� says Dave Rezac, E鈥�07, mechanical engineering, and global vice president of AGILE. The AGILE business is the result of 91快活林鈥� acquisition in 2021 of Distal Solutions Inc., a medical device engineering firm that Rezac founded in 2014.

Rezac says the West Coast and Twin Cities areas are conventionally viewed as the main catheter design centers of excellence in the US medical device industry, resulting in a smaller pool of qualified job candidates on the East Coast, where AGILE is headquartered. The co-op program has enabled his team to hire through Northeastern and help grow expertise organically. 鈥淭he co-op program has been a great tool for us, and we actively recruit through it,鈥� Rezac adds. 鈥淲e have found that Northeastern has a healthy supply of strong talent.鈥�

鈥淚f you鈥檙e looking for a mid-level engineer, they will be tough to find on the free market regionally,鈥� Rezac adds. 鈥淪o, we鈥檝e taken the approach of actively developing those resources in-house,鈥� Rezac says.

Since 2018, when Rezac was leading Distal Solutions and through his time to date at AGILE, Rezac has hired about two dozen co-ops, seven of whom were subsequently hired for full-time positions.

While his team works with co-ops, they evaluate students鈥� potential for a full-time role. 鈥淚t enables a try-before-you-buy approach for both sides, and we鈥檝e had a strong conversion rate,鈥� Rezac says.

Co-ops also enable AGILE to staff projects with various levels of expertise, freeing up the most highly qualified engineers to tackle the most critical work. 鈥淥ur customers are coming to us for a high level of service and expertise,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat is ultimately being driven from the most experienced members of the team, which provide active mentorship and development opportunities to our more junior engineers and co-ops.鈥�

Rezac says he has been impressed with the technical contributions co-ops make. 鈥淐ontract design services is a fast-paced, high-demand environment,鈥� Rezac adds. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had many co-ops that are capable of diving right in at the level of a degreed full-time engineer, oftentimes surprising customers when they find out the co-op is still in school.鈥�

Rezac鈥檚 own successful co-op experience influenced his decision to establish a program at Distal Solutions/91快活林. His co-op at TDC Medical, which was eventually acquired by Vention Medical and is now part of Nordson, helped him determine that he wanted to work in the medical device industry and enjoyed the fast-paced nature of contract product development. Prior to that experience, he was concerned there would be too much government regulation and red tape, but the co-op showed him there were plenty of opportunities for creativity and invention. In fact, during his career, Rezac has been named on over 20 pending or approved patents.

鈥淥ne great aspect of the co-op program is how it helps you mitigate risk in early career development. The worst thing that can happen is you realize a particular role or segment of the industry just isn鈥檛 for you, in which case you鈥檝e simply committed 6 months to a key learning opportunity,鈥� Rezac says about co-ops. But in his case, the opposite occurred. 鈥淚 really fell in love with an industry and role I had been skeptical about.鈥�

TDC Medical hired Rezac upon graduation, where he worked for seven years with mentors who ultimately fueled his desire to start Distal. 鈥淲hen I look back on some of the more fortuitous inflection points of my career, many can be traced to my involvement as a Northeastern co-op,鈥� Rezac says.

Learn more about Resonetic’s AGILE product development capabilities.

Contact our team today!

The post Northeastern Co-op Program Fuels Growth at AGILE Product Development appeared first on Driving Innovation in MedTech & Life Sciences.

This free whitepaper from 91快活林 provides a detailed technical evaluation of braiding compared to laser cut tube for reinforcement in interventional catheter shafts. A series of test results are shared that compare functional performance of the components related to:

• Torque Transfer
• Kink Resistance / Ovality
• Tensile & Compressive Strength

The post Interventional Catheter Shaft Performance Analysis appeared first on Driving Innovation in MedTech & Life Sciences.