When you're building advanced medical solutions, precision matters. But traditional prototyping, especially for large-scale manufacturing environments - can slow things down. For Medtronic, the world’s largest medical technology company, cardboard mockups and static documents just weren’t cutting it anymore.
That’s where JigSpace stepped in.
By switching to interactive 3D prototyping and augmented reality presentations, Medtronic turned a time-consuming process into a fast, collaborative workflow. Teams could now visualize designs, adjust layouts, and flag issues, all before anything went to production. And the best part? Everyone, everywhere could be on the same page in seconds.
The Challenge: Traditional Prototyping Limitations
Medtronic’s team relied on large-scale, physical mockups - like “Cardboard City” - to simulate cleanrooms, manufacturing layouts, and surgical suites. These were essential for testing workflows and planning equipment placement.
But they came with steep tradeoffs:
- 2–3 weeks to build
- $30,000+ per iteration
- 20+ people needed on-site
- Multiple redesign cycles required
This meant delays in decision-making, limited team collaboration, and high costs, especially for distributed teams or global projects. And while these physical mockups offered a degree of realism, they lacked the flexibility of tools like augmented reality for sales, which allow teams to visualize and refine workflows without waiting on full-scale physical builds.
The Solution: 3D Prototyping, Now in Hours - Not Weeks
To speed up its workflows and reduce the cost of iteration, Medtronic adopted JigSpace as a 3D medical visualization app, running on iPad in conjunction with Apple’s ARKit, all within a closed-loop manufacturing domain. This setup gave engineers the tools to quickly visualize, test, and iterate on high-stakes medical equipment in real-world context.
This shift allowed teams to:
- Import CAD models directly into interactive Jigs
- View layouts in augmented reality using an iPad
- Share 3D prototypes instantly - no travel required
- Gather feedback from stakeholders across geographies
“Using JigSpace as part of our lean manufacturing development efforts has enabled Medtronic to create and test solutions in a matter of hours versus weeks. The savings associated with the tool’s usage, at just one of hundreds of facilities, is an estimated $30k per model developed.”
— William Harding, Distinguished Technical Fellow, Medtronic
The Impact: Speed, Scale, and Collaboration
JigSpace helped Medtronic shift from physical to digital prototyping, unlocking meaningful benefits:
- Accelerated design decisions
- Reduced prototyping costs by ~$30,000 per iteration
- Improved team collaboration, regardless of location
- Easier iteration and updates, without re-building models
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, this flexibility became even more valuable. In 2020, Medtronic used JigSpace to create AR training guides for PB560 ventilators.
Since its release, the Jigs have been accessed over 20,000 times by 7,000+ manufacturers - demonstrating the scale of deployments that are possible with JigSpace.
Why It Worked: Security, Simplicity, and Scale
With JigSpace, Medtronic has been able to scale across multiple teams, regions, and projects. Features like secure sharing help protect their intellectual property, while the ability to upload CAD files from SolidWorks and create content on desktop devices has made prototyping faster and easier.
And for teams looking to extend this level of innovation beyond engineering, we also support augmented reality in education and training and even augmented reality pitch decks, offering powerful tools for sharing complex information in memorable, interactive formats.
“As a solution that has enabled Medtronic to conceptualize new cell operating system (COS) designs, as well as assisting us in the development of new medical devices, I have found JigSpace to be a critical solution that aligns with our innovative strategy.”
— William Harding, Medtronic
Want to See How It Works?
If you're still using static documents or building physical mockups, it might be time to level up.
Book a demo and see how JigSpace helps teams prototype smarter, present faster, and collaborate better - no matter the industry.
