Minimum Viable Product Case Study

In this section the background of this thesis work is explained. This includes the history of basic idea generation, description about initial design state and a short description of the aim of this thesis work.
3.1 Minimum viable product concept for developing countries
The concept of minimum viable product was introduced in an internal event at Dräger, which was to present innovative ideas. The term ‘Minimum Viable Product’ (MVP) means that a product with basic features to satisfy its customers. It can be better explained with the help of figure 8: Figure 8: Minimum Viable Product [Source: Internal]
The requirement of the customer in this case is to have a vehicle to travel from one place to another. In the left side of the picture a single
For example, it can handle a wide range of volatile agents through different breathing circuits. Sadly, benefit of these advancements can only be enjoyed by patients in developed countries. In developing countries, hospitals are not capable of purchasing these expensive machines. Even if they purchase modern anesthesia machines, there are some factors like ability to function in the absence of oxygen, electricity, and regular servicing by skilled technicians, which determine the success of these machines [4]. This leads to the requirement of a new product, minimum viable product, which is tailor made for developing
Apart from financial shortcomings, other major challenges are unavailability of properly trained nurses/ anesthesia technicians, irregular maintenance of the work station, electric power shortage and improper infrastructure. The magnitude of these challenges varies from region to region. For example, conditions in South Indian states are better than those in North Indian states. In many hospitals at rural areas in North India, ether and halothane, which have post-operative effects or side effects, are still in use as volatile agents for anesthesia. At some hospitals, there isn’t adequate gas supply or proper anesthesia gas scavenging system. The patient circuit elements like filters or breathing hoses are supposed to be changed regularly. But in some hospitals filters are changed only after 10 days and other breathing system components are rarely cleaned. The carbon dioxide absorbing chemical is soda lime. Soda lime used in most of the hospitals is low cost, low quality chemical, which will cause leakage at inspiratory and expiratory valves of breathing system. And when it comes to the cleaning of the workstation, spirit (which contains 90% alcohol) is used as cleaning agent. This can cause deterioration of most of the materials of the device. All these data lead to the requirement of a low cost anesthesia device, which is compact, robust, easy to clean and operate, and needs only little maintenance