Five roles through an R&D-to-manufacturing pivot, and the redesign that did not pass

A small medical device company moving from research and development into manufacturing and commercialisation redesigned three existing roles and hired into two more. Four of the five were approved. The one that was not, an R&D manager moving into business development, shows where the line sits for a job redesign.

Industry context

A medical device firm that starts manufacturing needs a different workforce from the one that built the prototype. Validation, statistical process control, design of experiments and corrective and preventive action become daily work. Commercial and clinical support roles appear for the first time. In a small company, most of that change has to happen inside the existing team.

What changed and why CCP applied

Three existing roles were redesigned under the biomedical pathway: an engineer into a process development senior engineer, a technician into a production executive, and an R&D manager into a business development manager. Two new hires were brought in: a clinical support specialist on the biomedical place-and-train route, and a marketing communications executive on the different job scope pathway.

Our strategy

We started from the company’s transformation plan, so each redesigned role was tied to the shift from R&D to production. Role scopes and training plans were prepared for all five roles, and the programme partner’s clarifications, including a query on wages that needed a salary addendum, were answered as they came. The two manufacturing redesigns were approved and completed. The business development redesign was not approved: the change was judged not substantial enough. The clinical support role was approved, though slow offers over the course of the engagement cost the company several candidates along the way.

OJT activities included

• Operational and performance qualification of manufacturing processes.
• Statistical process control charts and design of experiments.
• Jig design for production.
• Clinical case observation for the clinical support specialist.

Outcome

Roles

Five: three job redesigns and two new hires

Pathways

Biomedical job redesign, biomedical place-and-train, and different job scope

Status

Four of five approved; the business development redesign was not

Strategic value

A manufacturing-ready team built largely from existing staff

Key takeaway

A job redesign has to change the daily work substantially. The manufacturing redesigns, where the tasks changed completely, went through. The move from R&D management into business development was judged not substantial enough. That difference is worth testing before submission, not after.