Bjorksten/Bit 7 and Granite MEDSystems, both based in Wisconsin in Madison and Mequon respectively, have agreed to a joint venture to provide clients with accelerated product development and lower-cost projects. Bjorksten/Bit 7 provides product design and development consulting, and Granite MEDSystems provides turnkey electro-mechanical solutions to medical original equipment manufacturers. By unifying their capabilities, the companies hope to create a streamlined program for clients.

“We were intrigued by Granite MEDSystems’ manufacturing capabilities,” said Jim Frater, president of Bjorksten/Bit 7. “It was an area that we wanted to be able to offer to our medical device clients, but the investment toward developing our own manufacturing facility and resources was a challenge. Granite MEDSystems is a perfect match for us toward joint-venture product development because they are extremely experience with manufacturing medical devices that require intense scrutiny from the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] and other quality assurance systems, such as ISO 9001, ISO 13485 and QSR 21 CFR 820.”

Officials from both companies hope that they will now be able to offer true end-to-end medical device design and manufacturing, from concept to production, under the umbrella of ISO 13485 oversight.

“Bjorksten/Bit 7 is a perfect alliance for us,” said Clint Hanson, Granite MEDSystems’ vice president of engineering and operations. “Our clients will benefit greatly from gaining access to world-class product design and engineering. We’re confident the clients will see their product development accelerated with decreased cost and improvement in efficiency and quality.”