Global medical device company: Breaking the silos that stalled the pipeline

1 min read

An iconic medical device company had produced only one new product in eight years, with research and development working in near-isolation from the rest of the business. We helped it permanently break down those walls by building cross-functional teams into the structure, creating a five-year product pipeline where there had been almost none.

Outcome 1: Sales grew 11% year on year, reversing years of decline
Outcome 2: Margins improved by 6% over three years
Outcome 3: A five-year product pipeline built, against just one new product in the previous eight years

The challenge

An iconic global medical device company had produced just one new product in eight years, with its most recent product taking a full decade to develop. Research and development worked almost entirely apart from manufacturing and marketing. The company had slipped from third to fourth in the global market, and a belief that it was no longer an innovator had taken hold across the workforce.

The company was falling behind faster rivals, with an empty pipeline, declining margins and a workforce increasingly cut off from customers and the market. Handing products between functions without real collaboration was throttling both the pace and the quality of new development.

The approach

Working with the new president and senior leaders, we permanently broke down the silos by building three cross-functional teams into the structure: a 26-person leadership development group to shift the culture towards accountability, a five-person speed-to-market team reporting straight to the president, and a small office overseeing every product from idea through to eighteen months after launch. Together we built a five-year pipeline.

The impact

Sales grew 11% year on year, and margins improved by 6% over three years, reversing a long decline. For the first time in a decade the company had a full five-year product pipeline, and three cross-functional teams were now a permanent part of how it worked. The organization began to see itself as an innovator again.