Voices of CONMED: How We Make Surgery Easier Every Day

  • Published: 4/13/2026
  • 4 min

In conversation with Guillaume on listening, learning, and building better solutions in foot and ankle surgery

What does it really take to design products that surgeons trust and patients benefit from every single day? The answer is not a single breakthrough moment. It is a continuous process of listening, refining, and improving.

In this edition of Voices of CONMED, we sit down with Guillaume, whose work in R&D focuses on developing and improving products across the entire foot and ankle. His perspective offers a refreshing look into how innovation actually happens behind the scenes.

What’s Guillaume Up To?

Guillaume’s role at CONMED is anything but narrow. He works on developing new implants and instruments, whether single use or reusable, covering everything from the forefoot to the ankle. But new product development is only part of the story.

A significant portion of his work is what he calls sustaining activities. This includes improving existing products, fixing issues, managing supplier changes, updating packaging, or even adjusting how products are configured. Sometimes, it is about transforming reusable instruments into single use versions, which brings its own challenges like designing new packaging systems or adapting existing technologies.

What stands out is the variety. One day might involve reducing manufacturing costs, another improving durability, and another extending a product range. Guillaume gives a simple example. If a screw range originally goes from 10 to 30 mm, but surgeons need longer options, the team extends it to 32 or 33 mm. Even products developed a decade ago are never truly finished. As surgical techniques evolve, so do the needs.

And that is the key point. Nothing is developed for the sake of it. Every change, every update, every new idea must answer a real need or solve a real problem.

Those needs often come directly from surgeons, but not only from them. Sales teams and logistics teams also play an important role. If a product is difficult to deliver into the operating room or requires too many trays and sizes, it creates friction. In those cases, Guillaume and his team step in to simplify, streamline, and make products easier to transport and use.

Ease of use is not just about surgeons either. Instruments and trays are designed to be intuitive for everyone involved in the operating room. Nurses, technicians, and sterilization teams all interact with these tools. If something is too complex to assemble, it can lead to errors, and that is the kind of risk the team works hard to mitigate.

The ultimate goal is simple but powerful. Create a smooth experience for everyone so surgeons can focus entirely on the procedure and deliver the best possible outcome for the patient.

How Does All This Connect Back to Surgeons?

Collaboration is constant and happens in several ways. Often, it starts with the sales team, who gather feedback directly from the field. That feedback is then analyzed by marketing teams, who identify the most relevant needs across different regions and practices.

Because products are developed for a global market, solutions must work just as well for surgeons in Europe as they do in the United States. Different surgeons face different challenges depending on their patients and techniques, so finding common ground is essential.

Guillaume’s team also attends major international and national congresses, and just as importantly, they spend time in the operating room. Each R&D team member aims to observe several surgeries every year. Watching procedures firsthand provides insights that no report or dataset can fully capture.

Throughout the development process, interaction with surgeons continues. Emails, sketches, virtual meetings, and feedback sessions all play a role. This ongoing dialogue ensures that the final product is not just technically sound, but clinically relevant.

Innovation In, Challenges Out

When asked about the biggest challenges in foot and ankle surgery today, Guillaume points to one major trend. Minimally invasive surgery.

Over the past decade, it has gone from an emerging technique to a central focus in the field. The aim is to achieve the same results as traditional open surgery, but through smaller incisions. This leads to better recovery and improved outcomes for patients.

But it also raises the bar for product design. Instruments and implants must adapt to these techniques, and that is where the challenge lies. Supporting surgeons in this shift requires thoughtful design, continuous iteration, and innovation.

Talking about innovation, Guillaume says it’s not always about something completely new or disruptive. In fact, regulatory constraints often make that difficult.

Instead, innovation is often about refinement. Making products easier to use, more intuitive, and more efficient. The best products, as he puts it, are the ones that feel natural. The ones surgeons can use without having to think about how they work.

There is also a strong focus on patient comfort. For example, implants are designed with minimal thickness, so they are less noticeable under the skin. This is especially important in areas like the ankle, where soft tissue is limited. By improving materials and optimizing shapes, the team works to reduce irritation and improve the patient experience after surgery.

The Road Ahead

Looking ahead, Guillaume keeps it simple. The future of R&D lies in continuing to listen. Listening to surgeons, understanding their challenges, and designing solutions that help them work more efficiently while improving outcomes and recovery for patients.

And his final message is just as straightforward. Feedback matters. Whether positive or negative, it is essential. It is how better solutions are built.

Because at the end of the day, innovation is not just about creating something new. It is about solving the right problems, for the right people, at the right time.

And often, it is the smallest details that make the biggest difference. A simpler tray. A more intuitive instrument. A screw length that did not exist before but should have.

This is the work that rarely makes headlines, but shapes every procedure.

Built on listening. Refined through collaboration. Delivered where it matters most.

Because when design works the way it should, no one notices it.

They just trust it.

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