Supporting the Journey Towards Better Health for All

Celebrated annually on April 7, World Health Day marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) and each year focuses on a specific healthcare concern.

This year’s theme of ‘Health for All’ aligns with our mission to drive better health for all by supporting medical device original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with industry-leading healthcare solutions, when and where they’re needed most.  

To celebrate this year’s World Health Day, we spoke with Kevin Walsh, Vice President of Celestica HealthTech, about the evolution of healthcare and how Celestica is enabling change through healthtech innovation. 

How has the healthcare sector evolved over the past decade?

Kevin: An aging population and higher cost of care are driving a more preventative approach to healthcare. As a result, we’re seeing a rise in portable connected devices for at-home diagnosis and care. We are also seeing the emergence of minimally invasive single-use surgical devices. 

The broader trends impacting healthcare are also transforming medical device design and production.

The innovation happening across all parts of the supply chain has encouraged increased outsourcing and a dramatic evolution in the way medical device OEMs interact with companies like Celestica. Not long ago, OEMs manufactured most of their products in-house. Today, about half our healthtech programs involve manufacturing finished medical devices for a broad range of customers. 

What role does trust play in the evolution of healthcare outsourcing?

Kevin: Building trust with the customer is critical. Our employees assemble critical medical devices, like surgical instruments, send them for sterilization, place them in sterile packaging and ship them to the customer. The next person to open that packaging is a nurse or doctor in an operating room. The level of customer confidence is extremely high. You only get one chance to build a life-saving product.

How did Celestica begin supporting the healthcare sector?

Kevin: We started out with printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) for medical devices, and expanded to subassemblies and finished products. Today, we’re building surgical instruments, and medical devices related to patient monitoring, neurostimulation, diagnostic imaging, renal dialysis, in vitro diagnostics, dental equipment and robotics. In many cases, we’re building complete medical devices, many of which have no electronic components.  

How has Celestica invested in the HealthTech segment over time? 

Kevin: We’ve built an experienced team of people with medical device backgrounds — program managers, engineers, technicians, operators and beyond. Many have spent decades working for medical device OEMs and understand customer requirements, FDA regulations and international standards. We have also spent years building a robust supply chain to support our customers’ products – whether they incorporate electronics or not. Our supply chain tools drive continuity, and cost and quality benefits for customers, while reducing their risk.  

How does Celestica Healthtech support its customers? 

Kevin: We offer a suite of end-to-end services – serving as a single partner across every aspect of the product lifecycle – to enable greater innovation, faster time-to-market, and a smoother transition from design to manufacturing to aftermarket solutions including repair and refurbishment.

Tell us about your proudest moments leading the Celestica Healthtech team?

Kevin: At the recent American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) event in Las Vegas, two of our customers introduced Celestica-designed products to their surgeon population. That was a special moment that solidified what an amazing journey it has been and the trust our customers have in our expertise. 

While challenging, the COVID-19 pandemic brought out the best in our people and their commitment to our customers. We partnered with a leading medical device OEM to manufacture thousands of ventilators at the height of the pandemic, in a very short timeframe. 

As the World Health Organization marks its 75th anniversary, the journey to better health is far from over. How will Celestica contribute to health for all going forward? 

Kevin: We’ll continue to leverage our expertise in design, manufacturing and supply chain to support our customers’ efforts to bring cost effective, high-quality medical products to under-served regions of the world. 

We’ll also support the emergence of new technologies and trends – partnering with OEMs to design, develop and deliver products like surgical robotics and smart devices such as wearables and remote monitoring solutions.

We are committed to leadership in Environmental, Social and Governance programs, and care about the well-being of our people, and give them paid time off to volunteer in their local communities. Whether we’re helping those in need or building houses, our culture of making the world better for people runs deep at Celestica. 

We are extremely proud to be innovating and enabling the kind of technology that improves lives around the world. And knowing our work makes a difference is a very powerful motivator to do even more - to think bigger and drive greater innovation for our customers and the world.