ABSTRACT
Firms must be globally oriented to be competitive. GE Healthcare’s clinical systems unit is keenly aware of the need to design products that can be used anywhere around the world. In 2008, “GE Healthcare engineer Davy Hwang’s marching orders were straightforward. Take a 15-pound electrocardiograph machine that cost $5.4 million and that took three and a half years to develop. Then, squeeze
the same technology into a portable device that weighs less than 3 pounds and can be held with one hand. Oh, and develop it in 18 months for just 60% of its wholesale cost. He thought I was crazy,” says Hwang’s boss, Omar Ishrak, CEO of GE Healthcare’s clinical systems unit, based in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.1 Hwang’s team successfully pulled off this crazy request by combining two-parts technical know-how mixed with one-part creativity to meet the deadline. The reason for the low cost was the new MAC 400 portable ECG (electrocardiogram) machine was headed to India to meet the needs of the fast-growing market of healthcare for rural communities.
