"Pura Vida" – a Spanish phrase meaning the "pure" or "simple life" – isn't just the unofficial motto of Costa Rica; rather, it's a state of mind, locals say. But as more and more medical device manufacturing facilities pop up in the tiny Central American nation, quality assurance professionals there have discovered that ensuring top-notch product quality doesn't necessarily make life simpler. To jump that hurdle, QA experts from a variety of firms – including Medtronic, Precision Concepts and Creganna Medical – have banded together to lean on each other as they search for solutions to quality systems issues, as well as knowledgeable input on hot quality and compliance topics.
When Costa Rican quality assurance experts Martin Camacho Grünwedl, María Celina Corrales and Vanessa Rivel need a helping hand to understand, say, a complex standard, or they're stumped by a burning compliance, quality or regulatory issue, they know exactly where to turn: to each other.
Despite being employed by three different medical device firms with facilities in the country – Grünwedl from Medtronic, Corrales from...