RDM Healthcare Research Network

'Re-distributed manufacture' (RDM) is defined as: Technology, systems and strategies that change the economics and organisation of manufacturing, particularly with regard to location and scale. The potential for smaller-scale local manufacturing (RDM) and its contribution to UK GDP was made clear at the EPSRC Re-Distributed Manufacturing Workshop in November 2013. As the Workshop report concluded, successful implementation in UK industry presents many challenges and opportunities. The creation of a series of Networks to explore and define these issues, and the research agenda required to resolve them, is a timely approach to harnessing the expertise of a multidisciplinary community into a future coherent research initiative.

Our focus on manufacture of healthcare devices and therapies reflects the socio-economic importance of healthcare within the UK. The NHS has a turnover of some £121bn in the UK and serves a population of around 64m citizens - marginal advances in technology and services can have large impacts. Healthcare technologies are an EPSRC Challenge theme. The proposed RDM in Healthcare Network's (RiHN) objectives will support all four of the strategic priorities identified by EPSRC (novel treatment and therapeutic technologies; enhanced prediction and diagnosis in real time at the point-of-care; technologies for a healthy life course; and design, manufacture and integration of healthcare technologies).

RDM may change the delivery of healthcare products, enhancing national competitiveness and citizen well-being through: a) Cost reduction through terminal customisation or delayed manufacture based upon flexible intermediate products; b) Just-in-time delivery, particularly of perishable healthcare goods, c) Reduction of operational overheads by sharing support services between local manufacturing hubs, d) Management of capacity by distributing production through scale-out, rather than scale-up, e) Avoidance of placing high up-front capital cost at risk by building small production units in response to increase in demand instead of single large factories.

There are key challenges to realising these benefits: Technical needs must meet the appropriate regulatory standard; new training patterns must be established to maintain operating quality from a distance; social and inter-personal features must be addressed to enhance quality of life, incorporating quality assurance into the business structures; new customer-supplier relationships must be forged.

RiHN aims to explore these challenges and incentives and will be led by a multi-disciplinary team drawn from manufacturing, management, human factors and healthcare technologies, combining the expertise required from both the social sciences and engineering. The consortium has experience in delivery of major national networks and research centres and will build on the established relationships that the team have with industry, clinical networks, the NHS, regulatory bodies, policy-makers, academics and end users.

RiHN aims to develop the research agenda for RDM in healthcare, engaging with relevant academic and user communities through workshops and user engagement events, and through conducting feasibility studies in five distinct areas: 1. Medical Devices; 2. Pharmaceuticals; 3. Advanced Therapeutics (cell and tissue); 4. Dentistry; 5. Diagnostics. In doing so, RiHN intends to establish a community of practice for RDM in Healthcare, outlining the future direction for research, which will be published in a white paper. The outputs of RiHN will also be disseminated through a website, presentations at relevant national and international conferences, participation at other RDM Network events and research centres and a Special Issue journal (Journal of Operations Management) presenting the findings of the feasibility studies. A final report will be produced, sent electronically to all interested parties, and made available on RiHN's website.

This Network will work directly with beneficiaries to ensure that feasibility studies funded by the network are of relevance to a range of stakeholders, and have the potential for implementation in a healthcare context. User engagement events and workshops with interested and relevant parties will ensure that stakeholders have the opportunity express their views and shape the research agenda. Cross-sectoral learning will be supported through collaboration with the other RDM Networks.

A range of commercial private sector beneficiaries will include small and medium sized enterprises who participate in network meetings, develop or sell technologies and products (such as 3D scanners, mobile app developers, specialist manufacturers of customised parts, pharmacists) that will be used to realise RDM activities. In addition to these smaller businesses, large organisations (such as Smith & Nephew, Surgical Innovations Group Plc) will engage with the network as participants in projects, providing expertise and scoping of feasibility topics. The benefit of participation and engagement with this project for the commercial sector will include increased knowledge and understanding of the potential for new technologies and networks of technologies in the healthcare sector, understanding of personal and societal attitudes towards RDM in healthcare applications, and links with potential commercial partners in future RDM healthcare activities.

The healthcare sector, in particular the NHS, will benefit from this project, through the increased awareness of the appropriate mechanism through which new models of distributed manufacturing can be implemented within a range of different healthcare products, from pharmaceuticals, to cell based therapeutics and personal medical devices. This awareness will inform cost effectiveness analysis of new healthcare approaches, and ensure that the regulatory and legal considerations of altering models of healthcare manufacturing are appreciated throughout the supply and user chain. In the future, based upon insights from this Network, medical personnel including doctors, pharmacists, nursing staff and carers, will also benefit, due to higher quality products being delivered, leading to easier introduction of healthcare products and devices to patients, increased personalisation of devices (resulting in fewer side effects due to customised devices with improved 'fit'.

The general public will benefit through more personalised models of healthcare manufacture and delivery, improved health outcome resulting from higher levels of customisation and speed of production, and increased satisfaction with their healthcare provision due to the reduced need to travel to specialist providers, coupled with the retention of communication with and support from relevant healthcare experts.