Originally Published PMPN April 2003
NEWS
Opportunity Knocks |
| A "handicapable" employee of Opportunity Medical, a member of Workability International consortium aimed at helping the disabled. |
Opportunity Medical (Highland Park, IL) has found a way to lower costs for its customers and at the same time help the disabled.
The contract manufacturer of sterile, disposable medical products has joined Workability International, an offshore manufacturing consortium dedicated to increasing employment worldwide for the disabled. The organization was formed 10 years ago by a group of employers from the United States and Europe who knew firsthand that the disabled are capable of producing high-quality work. Consortium members must demonstrate the capability to provide customers with competitively priced, high-quality products and services, and they must use "handicapable" employees as much as possible in their design, production, and distribution processes.
The international manufacturing consortium allows Opportunity Medical to manufacture subassemblies that go into its sterile, single-use medical products at offshore prequalified suppliers located in countries with lower labor rates. The company's plant in Highland Park, IL, still performs the final assembly, packaging, quality assurance, and release of all products. In addition, the company offers assembly, packaging, quality assurance, release, and distribution services to Workability members offshore that have medical products they want to sell in the United States.
According to Larry Rosser, President and CEO of Opportunity Medical, if companies have any reservations about the quality of work produced by the disabled, they are reassured by two things: "The first is our customers' reputation for quality. These customers include Baxter, Cardinal, Tyco, Medline, and Searle/Pharmacia, to name a few. The second is a visit to our modern facility where they see for themselves our Class 100,000 cleanroom production areas, our quality systems, and our products."
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