Manufacturing
The SmartCane Device design, originally conceived at IIT Delhi, was supplemented with Design For Manufacturability (DFM) at Phoenix’s DSIR certified R&D facility. The Phoenix counterparts of the design team, looked at each of the building blocks of the design from the perspective of appropriateness, availability and affordability. Many prototypes were made and tested and evolved – till we arrived at a ‘manufactureable’ product. The challenge was to preserve all the advanced features and still deliver a cost-effective device.
Phoenix uses ISO certified processes for Design, Manufacture, Sales and Service conforming to 9001 and 13485 standards. This means that all its devices are designed and manufactured under the same exacting standards required for all medical devices. To ensure this, SmartCane was explicitly included in Phoenix’s quality scope. All the SmartCane devices for the pilot study went through an extensive Quality Control process – especially since design requirements evolved during the development. Special test methods were put-in place for the SmartCane device. As a culmination of these efforts, SmartCane will be CE marked very soon.
More than any of the ‘marks and approvals’, we are proud that the SmartCane Device is ‘Made in India’. The device was designed, tested at Delhi and Chennai and is manufactured at Phoenix’s Chennai based production facility. We also realise the responsibility that comes with this stamp and are fully committed to upholding the sanctity of this mark!