[Chuck Adams]

While I was an engineer back in rail locomotive manufacturing (I’m recovering now 😉 ), I noticed that it was common for old standards and design practices were usually kept from both organizations from a previous merger, but they were never “merged” themselves (the practices).

What has been your experience when dealing with merging technical data and practices? I’ve found considerable debate between merged company engineers and technical personnel.

[Eric Kunitake]

Hi Chuck, might be comparing apples to oranges but in the medical device industry, when a medical devices firm is acquired by another in the same industry, all IP (which includes files, records, etc) is migrated over to the buyer. Depending whether the acquired firm will function as a bolt on or whether devices will be manufactured in house by the acquirer, old processes may or may not convey. From a software perspective, I’ve seen instances where the buyer conducts an assessment of the compatibility of the CAD software used to engineer the device to check with compatibility with acquirer’s applications or whether new licenses are needed to access and use these files. Regarding manufacturing processes, as medical device firms typically buy firms who have a product which they don’t, there is an effort to preserve those processes and integrate the data / supply chain aspect in some respect to the acquirer’s systems. In other cases, I have seen a firm buy a firm with a unique device/ product and sit on it as the intent was to take aware the option for a competitor to acquire.

Regards,

Eric

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