Finding simple but powerful QA solutions article

Interview: Daniela Zimmermann

Fredrik Ljungberg is president of RTI, a Swedish firm that develops solutions for X-ray quality assurance (QA). During our European Hospital interview, he explained the levels reached in QA and future aspirations of this already world-leading QA company.

Diagnostic radiology demands diverse and top quality medical imaging technology. Among the equipment used, the importance of X-ray QA (quality assurance) remains paramount to control X-ray radiation.

Since 1981, when RTI invented the first X-ray QA system for diagnostic radiology, the firm has invested heavily in R&D, and became a world- leading manufacturer of QA solutions. By rebranding in December 2019, the company expressed its vision to ‘set the standard for quality assurance in X-ray imaging’.

Thus, RTI will continue a strong focus on QA solutions to address customer needs in a broader sense, with a specific emphasis on customer collaboration, workflow automation, traceability and compliance within its dedicated soft- ware solutions.

The objective is also to include attention to detail on training, customer care, continued investment in R&D and the role artificial intelligence (AI) will play. ‘Our collaborative approach to customers includes all processes; from eliciting needs and R&D, to training and support,’ Fredrik Ljungberg confirmed. ‘To understand needs, we seek to engage in long-term cooperation with customers to understand what they want to accomplish: the starting point should always be their goals and what they plan to do to be successful.”

‘We are trying to take a more overall view of this because, historically in this industry, the focus has been on technical features and devices. Once you understand this, you can create a solution that not only meets the need but also fits into the customer context. The solution needs to be simple, yet powerful.’

RTI’s X-Ray QA portfolio provides dedicated kits and accessories for dental, CT, mammography, Rad/ Fluoro, interventional and surgery, with most modalities.

Ljungberg emphasised the importance of change to achieve improvements and efficiency gains, as well as the role of training. He also envisioned a shift from managing QA measurements manually, in Excel, towards a dedicated QA software, with a software suite that strongly emphasises workflow automation and compliance, as well as enabling the integration with other systems and databases, and customisation to fit unique 40 years and believe in niche and focus, he explained. ‘Within the area of X-ray QA for diagnostic, we believe in offering solutions to all QA needs, ranging from instruments and software applications to training and different business models.”

‘To be really successful, the customer needs a solution; the hardware device is only one part of that solution. We also believe software is the key to success. Managing your QA manually, or using Excel, may be easy short-term, but expect no major improvements.’

Taking out the human element delivers consistency and helps to eradicate errors.

‘In our software, we seek to hide the complexity to make complex easy,’ he explained, adding: ‘Another main component of our strategy is our collaborative approach to customers and partners.’

Since inventing the solid-state meter in the early 1980s, RTI’s attention has changed from hardware meters and technical capabilities to QA solutions in general and software in particular. ‘I see general trends from hardware to software because more and more of the customer value is with the software. It is not that hardware is not important because, if you do not have the hardware you cannot provide the value in the software,’ Ljungberg reasoned.

‘Today we offer a unique solution for all QA needs in diagnostics. For example, you can implement a standardised process in a workflow, automate certain steps to gain efficiency, and get full traceability.’

RTI remains reluctant to discontinue products and maintains that it always offers upgrade paths and adopts a customer flexible and focused approach with high-quality support. ‘To become even more effective, customers may want to implement a standardised QA process and to feed data from their QA to and from other systems. Some may want to buy the equipment, whilst others prefer leasing. There are many different needs to address. The goal of our solution is to address all those needs, so we can provide the best solution for each individual customer,’ Ljungberg added.

There is also emphasis on integration of RTI’s software into existing databases and systems. ‘Software and data integration is becoming more common,’ he said. ‘It is part of the digitisation of the QA process. Customers want to be effective and that requires automation and integration.’
Ljungberg believes AI will play an increasingly important role in RTI’s data-driven systems in the future. ‘AI algorithms are very good at analysing large amounts of data and making conclusions and recommendations. This way, we think the efficiency and value of the software will be even higher in the future.’

Fredrik Ljungberg is President at RTI Group, a leading developer of X-ray diagnostics QA hard- and software in Sweden. He is also co-founder, former CEO and current board member of several companies, including Diadrom, a provider of diagnostics and autonomous driving solutions, and share registry tech company Reguity. A trained researcher in applied IT, Ljungberg has been Professor at Göteborg University and published more than 50 scientific papers and several books on the topic.

Published in European Hospital, Issue 1/20, March/April 2020, page 26