Augustine Medical, Inc. is a Minnesota corporation that develops and markets products for hospital operating rooms and postoperative recovery rooms. Company executives are now finalizing the marketing program a patient warming system, which is designed to treat postoperative hypothermia in the recovery room, called Bair Hugger Patient Warming System. It is specially designed to maintain body temperatures of patients recovering from surgery. The product consists of a heater/blower unit that is a large, square, boxlike structure that warms filters and blows air through a separate plastic cover. The unit is mounted on wheels for easy movement. A dial controls the temperature with one to four settings. Twelve warming blankets can be stored in a top loading bin for easy access. The disposable covers are packaged in 18-inch-long tubes. The blanket is made of a thin plastic layer and a layer plastic material laminated into full length channels. Inflated by a connection at the patients feet, the tubular structure arcs over the patient, and warm air flows over the patient. The average warming time for a patient is two hours. The plastic cover is patented but the heater/blower unit is not.
Target Market:
The target market for this particular case study is hospitals with seven or greater recovery room beds. Target market makes up a total of 80% of all surgical operations in the United States.
The Bair Hugger Patent Warming System is not a consumer product, in fact it is a device designed to control the body temperature of postoperative patients. The main users of this product would be businesses and hospitals. Hospitals will be in high demand as they are continuously trying to prevent diseases such as hypothermia.
After completing interviews with nurses and physicians there were a great deal of responses. They believed that the Bair Hugger Patient Warming System would speed recovery for postoperative patients. They also believed that the