MD&M West

For medtech professionals

Business View Magazine interviews Hayley Haggerty of UBM PLC about the MD&M West Expo, as part of our focus on the medical device sector.

The Anaheim Convention Center in southern California is the site of this year’s Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West Expo, North America’s biggest medical device technology trade show and conference. The three-day event, which takes place February 5-7, is where engineering professionals find the technologies, education, and connections to stay ahead in the global medical manufacturing community.

The MD&M West Expo is produced by UBM PLC, whose main focus is on B2B events, offering face-to-face interaction in the form of exhibitions, trade shows, and conferences. It principally serves the advanced technology, pharmaceutical and healthcare, trade and transport, business services, fashion and jewelry, food and agriculture, and leisure, hospitality, and lifestyle industries. In June 2018 UBM combined with Informa PLC to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B events organizer in the world.

“The MD&M show has been bringing medtech engineers together for over 33 years, and is the nation’s platform to get together if you are in the medtech space,” explains Event Director, Hayley Haggarty. “We bring together everyone, from someone with a concept scribbled on a piece of paper, figuring out what material they want to use, how they’re going to design it, and how they’re going to produce the prototype – all the way to large-scale manufacturing, packaging, and distribution. It really covers the whole spectrum of design and manufacturing within the medtech market.”

Haggarty adds that, in addition to the MD&M show, the expo in Anaheim will feature four other contiguous shows, making up one powerful event: WestPack features the latest in packaging design, adhesives, labeling equipment, and smart factory technologies; ATX offers solutions in automation, motion control, and robotics; Design and Manufacturing presents the latest in CAD/CAM, software, 3D printing, and rapid prototyping; and Plastec provides tools, tips, and insights for everything from injection molding to next generation polymers that help create parts and products that are stronger, lighter, and more cost-efficient.

According to Haggarty, this year’s event will have over 30,000 attendees, including 1,900 exhibiting companies that make the components that go into medical devices. “For example, if we were to talk about a wearable device, a good example would be a Fit-Bit,” she explains. “That’s made of plastic, a battery, a digital screen, sensors – all these components you would actually find at this event, as well as how you manufacture and package them. So, the people who attend the show are the manufacturers who are looking for components to put these products together. They’re looking for manufacturing partners, sourcing partners, and technical solutions. It’s also a fantastic environment for start-ups to get to know the industry better and what’s available in terms of materials and solutions. The industry is changing drastically; 3D printing is becoming more mainstream in manufacturing and smart factory floors are now very much a reality.”

“Then, within the show, we have a conference component,” Haggarty continues. “Education is a key factor in our shows; we have deep dive technical education – people want to make their products smarter, their factory floor smarter, and their processes more streamlined with the technologies that are now available.” A full speaker lineup, this year, will include representatives from top OEMs, such as Edwards Lifesciences, Galen Robotics, Merck, and Corinnova.

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AT A GLANCE

WHO: MD&M West

WHAT: A medical device technology trade show and conference

WHERE: The Anaheim Convention Center

WEBSITE: www.mdmwest.mddionline.com