Medical Patient Tracker Redesign: 30-Year-Old Platform, Modernized on a Compressed Timeline
A medical device manufacturer had a 30-year-old patient tracking system full of obsolete radios and end-of-life microprocessors that was still actively deployed in hospitals.
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The Problem
A medical device manufacturer had a patient tracking system that was over 30 years old. The design contained numerous obsolete radio modules and microprocessors that were either already end-of-life or about to be. The product was still actively sold and deployed in hospitals, so any redesign had to improve performance while maintaining full backward compatibility, and had to be done quickly before parts ran out.
Our Approach
We took on the full redesign with an aggressive, compressed timeline. We replaced every obsolete radio and microprocessor with current-generation equivalents, improving performance across the board while maintaining compatibility with existing deployed systems. For every component selected, we evaluated the vendor’s end-of-life history and supply chain reliability to ensure the new BOM would have guaranteed availability for the product’s expected remaining service life. This wasn’t just a parts swap, we did a ground-up redesign with longevity engineered into the component choices.
The Result
The redesigned patient tracker was delivered on schedule despite the compressed timeline. Performance improved over the original 30-year-old design. Every component in the new BOM had a long-life supply chain.