Dan

Jan 28, 2008

The first half of our last day in Galway was spent visiting Medtronic Vascular Facility. When we arrived, we signed in and were issued visitor badges and asked to sign disclosure forms saying that we would not share any information about the things that we saw on our tour. We were given two presentations about the Galway facility as well as Medtronic as a whole. They shared some aspects of their project management and improvement processes.

After two presentations and a small breakfast, we split into smaller groups to get tours of the assembly lines for stents. The first group saw the balloons that expand stents inside the blood vessels. Another group saw how medication was applied to drug-eluting coronary stents. My group got a tour of the assembly line for the actual stents. We watched metallic rings being cut, bent and welded to form the metallic mesh that will hold vessels open inside someone’s body. It was a very interesting experience, as we were able to see how a product was made from start to inspection.

The presentations that were given also fit nicely with the classwork that we have been working on. We were able to see first-hand how things applied to real businesses. Our final part of the visit was another presentation about the research and development team. Our visit to the Medtronic Galway Facility was interesting and a good end to a great trip.