"Do not do ego-design." A professor told Bart Verleije that in school, and it shaped how he has built medical devices ever since.

Bart is Commercial Director at Voxdale, a Belgian design and engineering firm, with more than 1,400 projects over 19 years. He explains how a napkin sketch becomes a certified, manufacturable device, and where most MedTech projects go wrong before they reach a patient.

In this episode:

- His BURST framework: Business, User, Regulatory, Sustainability, Technology

- Why design for manufacturability has to start on day one

- How to stop feature creep and trade off conflicting requirements

- The Ergotrics story: an inflatable system for turning and proning patients

If you develop devices, this one will change how you scope your next project.

Connect with Bart: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartverleije/

Voxdale: https://www.voxdale.be

00:00 From a napkin sketch to a certified device

00:56 Meet Bart Verleije: 1,400+ projects, 19 years at Voxdale

01:45 Commit to your product before you build it

05:05 "Do not do ego-design"

06:42 Why every stakeholder needs at least a neutral stance

09:56 The BURST framework: Business, User, Regulatory, Sustainability, Technology

15:46 Design for manufacturability from day one

20:30 The operational cost teams overlook

23:20 A healthy take on AI in documentation

28:29 Database-first documentation and regulation as code

30:13 The conservation of misery: trading off requirements

34:04 Only five value drivers make the board

37:28 "How do you know this?" Breaking false requirements

40:11 Over-requirement is the biggest cost driver

41:33 From a highway traffic jam to proning patients

45:10 The toothpaste factory and the 20-dollar fan

48:17 Bart's advice: commit, talk to experts, stay in your lane

55:28 Closing

Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics!

If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk—BOOK A CALL HERE.

Most sustainable plastics cost two to six times more than oil-based alternatives. That's why you don't see them everywhere. Alex Braun decided to fix that.

Alex is the Chairman of Pillar Ltd, an Israeli industrial R&D company with 26 years of experience building materials for the world's largest manufacturers. Out of that work came three startups: PlasticBack, which chemically recycles PVC at under 100 degrees Celsius. Snow Polymers, which makes bio-based plastic at oil prices without requiring new machinery. And Inteligels, a smart wound care polymer that washes off with cold water instead of being peeled off a burn.

Here's what we get into:

• Why most sustainable plastics fail commercially before they ever reach the market
• How Snow Polymers makes bio-based plastic price-competitive with fossil fuels using industrial waste as feedstock
• Why PVC is the fourth-largest plastic produced but the last to be recycled, and what PlasticBack does about it
• How Inteligels eliminates the most painful procedure in hospitals
• The R&D model that lets Pillar Ltd take risks that neither startups nor corporates can

This episode is sponsored by Pillar Ltd.

If you want to make your products more sustainable, let's talk: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical

🔗 CONNECT WITH Pillar Ltd: https://www.Pillar Ltd-ltd.com/about-us

🔗 CONNECT WITH US:
🎧 Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gradical-podcast-the-podcast-about-plastics-in/id1773569554
🟢 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/4vNQ6rPE2CQUGgQtEY3sYq
📺 YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@GradicalGmbH
🌍 Gradical: https://gradical.ch/
📩 Work with us: lucas.pianegonda@gradical.ch

#MedTechSustainabilityByDesign #GradicalPodcast #SustainablePlastics #Bioplastics #ChemicalRecycling #PVC #WoundCare #DeepTech #MaterialScience

Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics!

If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk—BOOK A CALL HERE.

Over a billion autoinjectors are used every year. Almost all of them are single-use. Almost all of that plastic gets incinerated.

John Palmer-Felgate spent 30 years designing medical devices. At some point, he decided to actually fix the problem.

John is the Founder and CTO of Eco-Inject, a UK startup that has built a sustainable autoinjector from the ground up using 100% bio-based polymers, fewer components, and a completely rethought internal architecture.

Here's what we get into:

• Why you can't just swap in sustainable materials and call it a day
• How John reduced the device to five simple plastic moldings
• Why the production line footprint is a quarter of the current standard
• How Eco-Inject achieves a lower cost of goods and better sustainability at the same time
• The commercial reality of selling sustainability to pharma procurement

This episode is sponsored by Eco-Inject.

If you want to make your medical devices more sustainable, let's talk: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical

🔗 CONNECT WITH JOHN PALMER-FELGATE: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-palmer-felgate/

🔗 CONNECT WITH ECO-INJECT: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eco-inject/posts/?feedView=all

🔗 CONNECT WITH US:
🎧 Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gradical-podcast-the-podcast-about-plastics-in/id1773569554
🟢 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/4vNQ6rPE2CQUGgQtEY3sYq
📺 YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@GradicalGmbH
🌍 Gradical: https://gradical.ch/
📩 Work with us: lucas.pianegonda@gradical.ch

#MedTechSustainabilityByDesignPodcast #GradicalPodcast #MedTech #AutoInjector #SustainableDesign #MedicalDevices #Bioplastics #DrugDelivery

Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics!

If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk—BOOK A CALL HERE.