Q&A: Internet of Medical Things: How Ascential Supports the Medical Devices Industry

Medical equipment and devices play an essential role in most patient interactions. The MedTech industry is driven by evolving regulations, digital transformation, data analytics, artificial intelligence, automation and the shift toward value-based healthcare.

The United States remains the world’s largest medical device market, leveraging strengths in microelectronics, telecommunications, instrumentation, biotechnology and software development to maintain a competitive edge. Analysts project the U.S. market is expected to experience a steady growth rate of 5.19% annually (CAGR 2025-2029), pegging the market volume of $233.51billion by 2029. In 2023, U.S. medical device exports surpassed $103 billion, highlighting the industry's global impact and ongoing growth.

These factors hold resonance for Anupam Girdhar, divisional CEO of Ascential Medical & Life Sciences, a company that combines advanced automation with deep-bench expertise in medical device assembly and complete commercialization services.

Editor’s note: The following Q&A has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Machine Design: How is Ascential supporting the medical devices industry in managing data?

Anupam Girdhar: We have started an initiative called Ascentialytics. It’s a software platform that we developed in-house. There are several ways in which we are employing it for helping our customers. The first thing is we use the software to collect the right information from our various tools, instruments, devices and so on. [Part of it] is just as simple as building dashboards, but the real interesting part starts when our Ascentialytics software, which is the intelligence inside, ends up analyzing all this information to improve the reliability, the productivity, the yield for the customer.

When we produce the physical product, we have started to embed the Ascentialytics in it so that customers can have a much more reliable product and solve various [tasks] that the product is intended to do.

MD: Can you discuss the long-term influence of embedded systems? We’re seeing the growth of hardware-software integration—that is, linking the physical components of a device with the software that controls its functionalities. Will software ever replace hardware or mechanical components?

AG: What’s happening is that we are adding [software] to our large machinery and so on. However, if you look at something very simple as a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) or even a simple sensor that goes and sits in a vein as an implant, you now don’t need this big honking blood pressure machine. You don't need a temperature monitor. You don’t need something to prick your finger with and so on. Suddenly, with one tiny sensor, you’ve got all that information, and you’ve replaced three big [mechanical] parts.

I think that is fascinating because both miniaturization and the sensor detection capabilities bring together the replacement, which reduces the footprint of the factories, which reduces steel consumption, which reduces so many things that I think you’re going to see a very different, different industry in 15-20 years.

MD: Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D., CFA, delivered a keynote at MD&M West 2025 in which he suggests that industry is going from digitization to datafication. Can we talk about the quality of data and how you’re working to consolidate good information, valuable information?

AG: It’s a fascinating topic. I live in San Francisco and I just see so much good stuff happening. It’s a pity that sometimes we get worried about the FDA regulations and so many other things that go on in healthcare that these things become a little bit of an afterthought.

But now the idea of pulling out the data from an instrument, which is a treasure trove, provides so much information. In the past, you would not even pull out those signals. And even if you pull those out, we would not have the right means to develop the pipeline of that data and store it and then, more importantly, do something with it.

So, we have made good progress in terms of making our instruments data ready. Just like you had in the olden days, design for manufacturing and so on, now it’s more likely “Design for Data” and “Design for AI,” so that your instruments are capable of at least spitting out the data. And once you have that, then you can do meaningful use cases.

For example, if you see failure rates that are very high in a certain instrument, you now know exactly how to pull that data out. And in fact, that’s being collected in real time, but then, how to analyze it and how to pinpoint the issue.

You can even have images, where the camera is taking images, and you see immediately that there’s something wrong in a certain image. And now the AI can read what’s going on based on the recurring usage.

I’m very excited about the phase we are in because now it’s time to take that data and use it for something productive.

MD: It’s changing the business model, too. With AI, you have new opportunities for the product itself—whether it is a measuring instrument, whether it’s [a] wearable device—to completely transform the way businesses go to market. Talk a little bit about what happens behind the scenes.

AG: If you think of how these products are developed from concept all the way to production, some of it is how we design these products—like using this data and feeding the user requirements—and how it's actually used in the field, at what temperature and what use case. That is the one idea that we start to bake in early in the design.

But once the product is being developed, there is so much that we can do with digital twins as well as the way we apply the data to increase the reliability of the process, as well as make sure that the yield improvements are there at the end of the process. And then finally, when the product is in the market, using this data to for better usage of the product and to enhance its use cases.

I have been trying CGM. Not that I needed it, but I just wanted to try it. I’m fascinated at how data has modified my behavior towards food. So, I think it’s just the starting point for a lot of these kinds of use cases.

MD: You’ve touched on how automation can spur the growth in personalized medicine. For Ascential, what are some of the big challenges that you have to face in 2025?

AG: I think a couple challenges have become much more intense this time. For example, the increase in productivity. I think making sure that the costs are lowered, that’s become very important. One is, you saw the inflation, right? That’s hurting the margins of companies.

Second is the shortage of labor. The employment rate is good, but at the same time that makes it difficult to find the right people, which in one way encourages automation. So, that’s the other challenge—that we have both to find good talent for our own companies, but then also address customers’ challenges around a dearth of labor.

The third challenge, I would say is the unpredictability around the global environment. So for example, you probably heard a lot of experts talking about what tariffs will do, but it's anybody's guess because it’s such a complicated world. While somebody who may be making things in U.S. may feel that may be good—and it may actually be good for them. But there are repercussions in terms of how our customers’ demand will pan out. If our customers are more skewed to countries that have tariffs, their demand will slow down, which will impact us. So, it’s going to be pretty complicated to unwind all this. But from our side, what we can do is just be ready for that.

MD: And what does that mean?

AG: So I’ll tell you a little bit about the strategic discussion that we are having at our end. And I’m sure the entire industry is having those right now—these strategic plans, reviews and updates based on this.

Firstly, I think if we keep the customer in front of us in terms of as an example, we one of our value propositions for our customers is proximity. We are located in Minnesota. We’re located here in Oregon, in San Diego, Costa Rica, Ireland, Malaysia and Singapore.

The whole point is that wherever our customers need us, we are there. If customers shift their demand from one place to another, we are making sure that we have the right systems, processes, supply chains to serve them there. I don’t know how the tariffs will shift the demand, but what I know is whatever it does, at least we’ll be ready.

So that’s one. And then the other thing that we are doing is we are making sure that we are reevaluating our supply chain. If something like that happens, which is much more detrimental to our business, we have backup supplies to take care of. So those are a couple examples that we are taking care of.