ipp. easy13485 The MedTech Field Guide · No. 02 00
Topic of the month · Risk analysis & ISO 14971 No. 02 · 2026
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What could possibly go wrong?

Risk analysis for founders who'd rather meet the failure on paper than in production.

Turn the page
Chapter 01 · The tension

Risk analysis isn't a document you write the night before the audit.
Everyone tries it once.

You know the pattern. An FMEA copied from a template that never quite matched the device. Hazards with no traceable controls. A risk file that froze at CE while the product kept shipping changes. Production and field data that never loop back. By audit day the risk management file reads like fiction — and Notified Bodies have read a lot of fiction.

Read: the MedTech de-risking view
ISO 14971 isn't a form. It's a habit. The good news: habits are easy to install when the system does the remembering.
Chapter 02 · The turn

Risk, as a process — not a PDF.

In the Makerspace, risk management lives in your QMS as a running process, created along the product life cycle — not bolted on at the end. Hazards, controls and their verification stay traceable to design inputs and V&V. And because risk doesn't stop at CE, production and post-production data feed back through PMS, CAPA and management review.

Chapter 03 · The centerfold

Where the hazards actually get caught.

Risk isn't a stage — it runs through all five. Here's where each piece of the risk file is born.

Stage 01
Claim Check
First, know what you are.
▸ Risk class & route set
  • Intended use & claim logic
  • Risk-class assumption
  • Light, Essential or Certified
Stage 02
Explore & Plan
Plan before debt starts.
▸ Risk strategy drafted
  • Evidence & risk strategy
  • First hazard identification
  • Role clarity for the phase
Stage 03
Build, Verify & Document
The heart of ISO 14971.
▸ Controls + V&V evidence
  • Hazard & control records
  • Verification of effectiveness
  • Risk file from real work
Stage 04
Automate
Your QMS answers back.
▸ Records drafted, scoped
  • Find the right risk process
  • Source-bound first drafts
  • Review stays with your team
Stage 05
Operate & Scale
Risk doesn't stop at CE.
▸ Production loop closed
  • PMS & post-production input
  • CAPA & management review
  • Readiness audit & support

The risk file isn't one document — it's the trail your five stages leave behind.

Walk the full Journey
Chapter 05 · Featured & the kit

Proof from the field — and the tools behind it.

All resources
The kit — five capabilities, one click each
Chapter 06 · Straight from the site

A few things worth the click.

Bookmark the Journey Calculator. It answers the question every founder asks me first: “how long, roughly?”
Chapter 07 · The next right step

Find the failure first.

The Claim Check sets your risk class and a plausible route — so risk work starts in the right place, not at 2 a.m. No full QMS commitment before the claim is clear.

The Claim Check is the first paid step. The call is not.

Start free
Scan to start the free e-learning — your 16 manufacturer obligations, certificate & first call included.
The MedTech Field Guide
No. 02 · Risk Analysis · 2026
The full story

This is the field guide. The detail lives at ipp-nbg.de.

The Journey Calculator, every capability in depth, the Fellowship and the full resource library are one click away. Bring your claim — we'll help you find the route, and the risks worth catching first.

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Field Guide No. 02 · 2026
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