Our History

Quest measures success in many ways including customer satisfaction and their profitability. These are often driven by the right product at the right time. Today’s world is very dynamic and often unforgiving. Henry Ford said “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” In today’s business world are you afforded that option? Over the last 14 years Quest had helped over 300 companies innovate, accelerate and succeed. Past Clients include fortune 500 companies as well as small startups. We invite you to learn more about why these organizations rely on Quest and how you might benefit from our innovation and acceleration to success. At the conclusion of your review feel free to Contact Us and share your thoughts.

Relationships, experience and innovation define Quest. Quest was founded in 1995 by a group of product development specialists with strong backgrounds in engineering and the physical sciences. Today the organization has grown to include 20 year veterans of the medical device arena and regulatory affairs. The core team has worked together for over 20 years and helped bring products to market with their desire to provide customer satisfaction through innovation, problem solving, good design and on-time delivery. Quest has maintained their focus on these values as it has grown its staff. Quest operates as a contract product development firm and served organizations quietly in the background outside of the public eye. A key to our success in development of medical devices has been to provide an environment for each employee that provides diverse technical challenges, professional growth, and financial security with a balanced life.

Milestones in Quest’s Medical Device Development

Year Activity

1995 Quest Founded
1998 Quest starts its first medical device, an in vitro diagnostic instrument with throughput of 300 tests/hour.
2000 Completes their first in vitro diagnostic instrument design
2001 Designs of a trans-dermal charger for an implantable hearing device
2001 Development of a device for respiratory trainer
2003 Design of a system that ablates the outer layer of epidermal skin to enhance drug delivery
2004 Design of an Electrocautery device for therapeutic tissue welding utilizing Pulsed Arterial Welding
2005 Competition of a in vitro coagulation diagnostic instrument for the Point of care market
2005 NIH SBIR Phase I: Cardiac Synchronization Technology for PEA Patients
2005 NIH STTR Phase I: Micro-Flex Technology for Early Detection of Lung Cancer
2006 Electronical design for the cellular imaging of skin cancer tumors
2007 Re-engineers a drug delivery device
2007 Designs a system to locate the port on implanted insulin infusion pumps
2007 NSF STTR Phase I: Force Feedback Control of a Shape Memory Alloy Catheter for Micro-surgery
2008 Quest decides to focus on medical product development
2008 Creation of a complex manufacturing fixture for an endoscope application
2008 Design of the electronics and software for a therapeutic device that treats Parkinson’s disease
2008 Development of a therapeutic device for the podiatry market
2008 Design support associated with the development of a neurologic testing system
2008 State of Colorado grant for commercialization work on our MicroFlex endoscope technology
2008 NSF STTR Phase IB: Force Feedback Control of a Shape Memory Alloy Catheter for Micro-surgery
2008 SBIR Phase II: Cardiac Synchronization Technology: An Improved Therapy for Pulseless Cardiac Arrest
2008 NIH STTR Phase II: MicroFlex Tools to Improve Sinus Diagnostics and Surgery

Our Business Model

Our business is divided into three different areas, Service Business, Technology Transfer and Pilot Manufacturing

Service Business

Quest’s service business follows a contract product development model based on time and material costing. Quest works with prospective clients to identify the scope of work that represents a whole or part of a program. Quest will write a proposal outlining the scope of work, the estimated cost of the contract design activity and a schedule. During the proposal generation process prospective clients develop a relationship with Quest that endures throughout the program. Once the proposal is acceptance the real work begins. Typically a traditional approach is utilized consisting of planning, design, prototype build, verification, and validation. Throughout the process many reviews occur. In reality there is often iteration within each of these major phases and between the phases. The degree of iteration is highly specific to the program. Upon the completion of the design verification, the technology and engineering work products (drawings, models, code, etc.) are transitioned to the client, into Quest’s Pilot Manufacturing or another manufacturing facility. This is outlined in more detail in Our Process.
Under this business model we have served many organizations (Past Clients) from fortune 500 companies to startups.

Technology Transfer

This element of our business is focused on the identification of technology at academic and other institutions and transitioning this into a product. As part of this effort we may write SBIR/STTR grant applications. Quest has achieved a success rate of 70-80% over the past few years with total awards in excess of $4M. The engineering required is often very challenging and presses the technological envelope. We invite you to review Quest’s Technology for further details and to Contact Us should you have interest in transitioning technology with Quest.

Pilot Manufacturing

In 2008 Quest opened its contract manufacturing building. This expansion of our business model is to address the transition to manufacturing with the incorporation of the original design team. The inclusion of the original design team ensures that critical information about the design is captured in the creation of the pilot manufacturing process. The design team follows the product into the pilot manufacturing to ensure this process is correctly defined. It is not Quest’s long term objective to operate a high volume contract manufacturing facility. The purpose of a pilot manufacturing process is to address all of the issues and establish a stable process with the support of the original design team. Once these issues are corrected, the device master record may be transitioned to another high volume manufacturing facility or to the clients manufacturing facility.

Be sure to visit our Contact Us page to tell us about your organization and how Quest might support your needs.