I went to insulate headquarters the manufacturers of omnipod the tubeless insulin pump and I've got a lot to tell you today and show you of everything I saw welcome to diabet Tech I'm Justin and on here I talk all things diabetes Tech news management and Beyond I went to the research and development lab where the original pump was created and I got to see some older pumps some of which never went to Market and I even got to build a pump myself I also went on the factory floor and saw pumps being made it was a huge production I had to put on all of this clothing in order to go in I also got to speak with one of their Executives that interview is already on my podcast and here on YouTube if you want to check it out insulate paid for all travel expenses for me to get out there so thank you so much I've got another podcast episode that goes into like the behind the scenes of what happened in with me and my friend Jenna who also came and produced the shoot so you gotta check that out it was this was the coolest thing ever for more of my videos and my podcast you can subscribe to this Channel and give this video a like if you wind up enjoying it alright let's get into this tour today is the day we are going to the factory got some breakfast sent to the room because I gotta look at my questions and make sure everything is all set equipment by the door and then Jenna should be here soon to grab some breakfast too good morning day Bon Appetit cheers omnipod headquarters are located in Acton Massachusetts about an hour out of Boston and we had to get up super early to go over there the first place we went to was the research and development lab where we met the entire team behind the development of omnipod some of who have been there from the very beginning 20 years ago specifically we met this guy John who told us all about the history of the pump this is where they're currently working on omnipod 6 omnipod 7 Dexcom G7 support there's a lot that goes into all of this research and all of this building and this is the place where it was happening I want to show you some of the history of the pumps so this is the original omnipod this never went to Consumers this was one that omnipod worked on and they got FDA clearance for so that they could continue on with research and then come out with their first consumer pump this one some of you may have worn this I was diagnosed later uh just two years ago so I didn't get a chance to wear this this is their second one so this would be omnipod 2. now as you can see this is a bit larger than the one we used today and that is the casing here I can open that up I'll just hold that this one came out in 2005 and then what would have been omnipod 3 also known as omnipod Eros is the one the form factor we're all using today now you can see this is 30 smaller than this omnipod so there was a big difference in size for these two this one I'm holding is an omnipod Dash pod that would be omnipod 4 and then today what we're all using is omnipod 5 and that is the same form factor as this one now let me show you omnipod 6 just kidding let me give you some background on omnipod the founder of insulit had a child with diabetes and thought that there could be a better way of managing it and he sketched the first device on a napkin which paved the way for omnipod as John told me all about the parts that it takes to build this and even Drew on a whiteboard all of the information of how small one day a pump even can get the passion in in his voice and it really resonated with me we always look at can we make something smaller but again we have a lot of features Rich things in here that we don't want to get rid of and safety concerns and all that but this would be the best anyone could do I got to build my own pump and I learned a lot about the parts that go into this let me explain some of them so the first thing you'll see is there is a round device in there that is called a Piezo that's what creates the beeping sounds that you're hearing there is no speaker the omnipod uses vibrations in order to create sounds using the Piezo another thing I saw and I got to see an action in the factory is there's this little arm and what this arm does is that's what pushes the needle and then cannula into your body when you put it on you set it to insert that arm will extend push it into your skin and then retract and it will get stuck like that all of those mechanics stay right in the pump there are a few batteries in here which I got to see it's the same type of batteries that you'd see in a Tamagotchi and then you've got the capsule right here which holds on to all the insulin up to 200 units and insulin another thing I learned is how they sterilize these devices they're not sterilized in the factory they're actually sterilized later and this is and they're packaged before they get sterilized so what happens is that outer paper material on the package and on the Pod allows for the sterilization process to go through it this material is also used for packaging on the Dexcom G6 and G7 applicators next up it was off to the factory floor foreign there I got to see a model of the new plant that they are building in Malaysia the Malaysia plant is going to be 400 000 square feet of manufacturing space insulate plans to hire over 500 full-time employees once it's up and running at full capacity and it's going to be opening in mid-2024. before going into the factory I had to walk in and there were like all of these sinks lined up for all their Factory people to get cleaned up before they go on the floor this Factory runs 24 hours I believe in three shifts after washing our hands I had to put on a head cap a beard mask gloves a big coat covers for my shoes and we even had to put those on and slowly cross over a bench into the more sterile area also we had to put in earplugs I actually kind of liked the color of them I wanted to keep them it is a requirement that you have to put those on on the factory floor this is the factory they make omnipod Eros Dash and the curved model omnipod 5. they make millions of pumps a year now I'm about to go on a tour of the factory I can't take you on that but I'll tell you as much as I can when I finish all right let's get to it on the factory floor there were rows of machines each with their unique job to work on that specific piece and then connect it to the pump there are 70 individual parts that go into making one omnipod pump so as you can imagine there was a lot going on tons of machines each doing their own little job to create this one big device all in all it takes about one minute to build a pump from start to finish also instant was telling me that they are putting solar panels on top of the entire parking garage to help power the factory with renewable energy after the factory floor visit it was time to go interview one of the insulate executives I got to ask him about the omnipod go which is meant for people with type 2 diabetes and I asked a bunch of questions about omnipod and its future so you should check that out it is on this YouTube channel you can also listen to it on my podcast all in all this was an incredible experience thank you inslet for bringing me out here I want to go to more factories if you are watching this and you work for another company take me to your factory I want to go see it I want to report on it and I want to make another video like this this is what I want to be doing I'm so honored and feel so privileged to have these opportunities and be doing what I do for you so stay tuned for more content on social media my podcast every Monday and videos like this on Fridays as always make sure you subscribe to this channel for all of that content and give it a like so other people can find it and hopefully enjoy it I'm Justin and I'll take you later