Survey identifies extent of disruption caused by COVID-19

A poll conducted among medical device manufacturers internationally by labelling provider PRISYM ID indicates that many have faced significant disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey, conducted among 30 of the world’s leading medical device companies, found that the majority of respondents (70%) had experienced interruption to manufacturing as a result of COVID-19, across all or most of their business.

More than a third of respondents (36%) said the pandemic had caused more than two months of interruption, while 17% said it had been longer than one month and the same number said it had been less than a month. Of those surveyed, 30% had not experienced any disruption.

With regards to sources of guidance, advice and support on achieving best practice around social distancing, 43% of respondents relied on the government and 40% were looking to their internal leaders.

The research suggested that more support may be needed to help people understand how the rules on COVID-19 relate to their organisation, as 50% of respondents said they fully understood the rules, just over 23% understood them to ‘a greater extent’ and the same number ‘to some extent’, while 3% ‘did not understand them at all’.

The social distancing rules, with various standards in place across different countries, would clearly create problems for many companies. Asked whether manufacturing lines would need to be reconfigured to meet social distancing requirements and the use of PPE, the majority (70%) said there would be some impact with regards to physical and process changes. One in 10 said it would require significant changes; while three percent said it would make social distancing impossible, while 17% said there would be no impact.

Warren Stacey, SVP of sales at PRISYM ID, said: “While many medical devices have remained in high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, our survey shows that, overall, it has hit many manufacturers hard, with 70% of respondents saying that they had experienced interruption to manufacturing. 

“The survey also shows that a large proportion of medical device companies will need to change their working practices as a result of the pandemic. Product labelling is one key area in which they can streamline their activities and we are committed to helping them achieve this through the use of innovative labelling software.”