Ethicon Endo-Surgery is a healthcare organization that strives to find new effective ways to treat patients. SIT worked with Ethicon Endo-Surgery (a Johnson & Johnson company) to improve The SEDASYS System. The SEDASYS System is a computer-assisted personal sedation system that allows physicians to administer minimal to moderate sedation for patients during routine endoscopy procedures. The system monitors a patient’s vital signs through which it can detect signs of oversedation and respond appropriately.

Unfortunately, this remarkable product is expensive to manufacture. In order to reduce the cost and retain the usefulness of the product, SIT employed its Closed World method. SIT listed the components of the system and then determined which components were necessary and which could be eliminated.

At first, it seemed all components were necessary. Despite this obstacle, SIT began to remove necessary components and find new and innovative ways to keep the system functioning properly. Throughout this process, SIT determined they could eliminate not only one seemingly necessary component but, in fact, two. SIT suggested removing the backup battery and the display screen. The backup battery was removed and, instead, the machine was hooked up to another piece of equipment for extra power. Additionally, images were channeled through an already existing screen in the OR. Removing these two components and replacing them with existing equipment cut production cost significantly. SIT broke Ethicon’s structural fixedness by rearranging the product in innovative ways to create a more cost-efficient product!