Medical technology: China’s medical technology has surpassed Europe’s top technology

I’ve changed how I handle the vast information banks from China.  I try now to do one China submission once a day.  One of our China writers, Frans Vandenbosch,  told his experience.

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Look at the Featured Image – Look closely at the photo. Can you see what’s wrong with this photo?

I saw it with the naked eye.

The past 3 days I have spent at the MedTech Messe in Stuttgart. There were some 200 exhibitors from all over the globe. Many German companies are subcontractors to the medical device industry. Companies from Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, etc. Also 2 American, 1 Japanese, 2 Flemish, and 7 Chinese companies.
The national flag of all these countries was shown at the entrance, except for the Chinese flag.

Copying or benchmarking?

Many western companies were complaining about “the Chinese, who’re copying our products”. But digging a bit deeper with the question: “Did they bluntly copy your products ?” or: “Did they break any of your patents ?” the answers became remarkably vague or nugatory.

Chinese manufacturers of medical devices and their component subcontractors (finally) learned the art of technical benchmarking. They no longer copy western products. They collect the 3 or 5 best-in-class products of their competitors, analyze them, and design an entirely new product with a collection of top characteristics of the best products of their competitors.

This technical benchmarking technique is now very common in China; it has been in use for more than 3 decades in the whole Western automotive (and other) industries.   I was happy to see that the Chinese also adopted this technique and dropped the blunt copying addiction.

Technology

Already 2 years ago, almost all ordinary, soft, indwelling lung or vein catheters for western hospitals were made in China. At that time they were all made in PVC, which was at that time regarded as a medical-grade plastic material.
Today they’re still made in China, much more accurate, softer, and in a range of much more body-friendly materials.

In the first photo, there are two needles. The left one is made of pure silver, the other one is of titanium. Both these needles are made by impact-extrusion.  In the second photo is a brain surgery catheter with a diameter of 0.3 mm. There’s no western company able to make this product.

Both these processing techniques used to be very common in the western industry. Toothpaste tubes for example were made by the impact-extrusion process. But the process is now much further developed, and the new fine tricks of the profession are no longer present in the western industry. Today it is China that holds the new patents for these manufacturing processes.

Quality

All leading top companies of the Deutsche Feinmechanik were present at the MedTec Messe. They exhibit their tiny micro products, small gears, and mechanical robots that do their work within the human body, some barely visible to the naked eye.

But again, asking them about their limits in technology, the tolerances and reliability of these micro components, they suddenly become very insecure and vague. None of them dared to guarantee a tolerance of 1 micron (1 μm, 1×10−6 meter) on their products. I did not tell them that I have made products of that level in Wuxi, China.

The Chinese exhibitors

The Chinese companies at the MedTec Messe were all remarkably modest. Some displayed their products as if they were ordinary items. No marketing language, no bluff, just technical information. That makes me wonder whether China is aware of its technological lead.

The Complainers

The medical device industry in Europe is under high pressure, they’re undergoing daily competition with China. Some refuse to talk about this issue, others openly accuse China of copying western products. Which is lame and unfounded. (see here above) The “copying” blaming has become a narrative that is, I suspect, prompted by the mainstream media.

A few of these companies know what it all comes to. They realize that they’re all doomed. A CEO of one company that I spoke there became very emotional and frustrated. He named the lack of top engineering education as the main cause. And our government, instead of supporting us, are actually boycotting us, he said. And: “In five years, it’s all over with my company”

Conclusion

In summary, I must conclude that the medical device industry in Europe is in big trouble. Those who are aware of what’s going on at this globe are looking for cooperation of joint ventures with Chinese companies. But most of them do not have that broad view of global affairs and are doomed.

Frans Vandenbosch  方腾波