Send us Fan Mail Elad Einav is a mechanical engineer, entrepreneur, and Co-Founder and CEO of Medibrane, a medical-device contract development and manufacturing organization specializing in polymer covers, membranes, coatings, and components for stents and other implantable devices. His work sits at the intersection of mechanical design, polymer science, manufacturing-process development, quality, and medical-device commercialization. Elad began his career as a mechanical engineer before moving deeper into medical-device R&D, where he designed implants and delivery systems and later managed multidisciplinary programs from concept through commercialization. Over the years, he has founded or co-founded several medical-device companies and has worked across engineering, clinical development, manufacturing scale-up, and business leadership. At Medibrane, Elad works on an engineering challenge most product developers never get the opportunity to see firsthand: how the polymer covering of a stent is actually created and attached to the metal frame. A particularly important decision is whether ePTFE is joined through sintering or through an adhesive-assisted lamination process. Both approaches can result in a covered stent, but the manufacturing choice can influence adhesion, polymer microstructure, permeability, stiffness, crimp profile, fatigue behavior, delamination risk, and even the regulatory strategy for the finished device. Elad's perspective is that these manufacturing decisions need to happen much earlier in product development. The way a stent is covered isn't simply something to hand off to manufacturing after the mechanical design is complete. It's part of the design itself. In this conversation, we'll explore those tradeoffs, look at what engineers can learn from real-world failures, and discuss how design teams can better connect material selection, manufacturing processes, testing, and regulatory requirements from the beginning. LINKS: Elad Einav LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eladeinav/ Medibrane website: https://www.medibrane.com/ Book 20 minutes with one of our covering engineers: https://www.medibrane.com/booking-calendar/rsvp-your-consultation PDX 2026 is October 20-21 in Phoenix, AZ. Learn more and register at https://pdexpo.engineer/ Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday. The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus
