major investment in advanced healthcare performance Mölnlycke

MAJOR INVESTMENT IN ADVANCED HEALTHCARE PERFORMANCE

Mölnlycke is a leading global medical solutions company within wound management, pressure ulcer prevention and surgical solutions. Philip Yorke talked to Eric De Kesel, the company’s Executive Vice-President Operations and Quality, about its latest innovative products and recent major investment in a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic.

The year started off strongly for Mölnlycke with its largest investment to date – a total of €67 million in a new factory in the Czech Republic, where the company already has one manufacturing site. As well as being a major milestone for the company, this also represents one of the largest foreign direct investments in the country in recent years. The investment will enable Mölnlycke to increase both its capacity and efficiency, resulting in 67 per cent higher production volumes. The official opening of the factory will take place on 17 May.

According to Eric De Kesel: “Our new facility in the Czech Republic will significantly enhance our manufacturing capabilities for surgical procedure trays and help us to strengthen our strong position in the global marketplace within this area. Beside the surgical solution business we offer a full-spectrum wound management portfolio and a unique pressure ulcer prevention solution – two areas where we are worldwide brand leaders.”

Bespoke solutions

The investment is part of what Mölnlycke describes as its larger journey to advance performance in healthcare within three focus areas: wound management (including a range of dressings and wound therapeutic solutions); prevention (including prophylactic pressure ulcer wound care dressings and turning and positioning systems); and surgical solutions (including items such as Mölnlycke Procedure Trays, drapes, surgical gloves and gowns). Indeed, the company no longer talks in terms of providing ‘products’ but about offering all-round ‘solutions’ including education and health economic support data to meet healthcare needs. The new factory will help Mölnlycke to provide a bespoke service to its customers, while at the same time strengthening its position as a worldleading medical solutions company.

FLEXTRUS –

A BRIGHT WORLD OF PACKAGING

Flextrus is a leader in barrier flexible packaging with base in Northern europe. We supply a comprehensive range of innovative and environmentally responsible materials intended for the healthcare industry, including thermoformable base webs, printed and coated medical papers, tailor-made film laminates and high barrier materials. Flextrus is very proud to be awarded the mölnlycke Health Care Supplier of the year in the category Innovation at heart in 2016.

www.flextrus.com

According to Mr De Kesel: “We know from our experience working with hospitals that one size does not fit all; every procedure is different and each hospital has its preferred configuration. We are already offering healthcare professionals a wide range of truly customised surgical solutions. There is no limit to the different combinations we can put together in a tray to match our clients’ needs. Our tailor-made solutions ensure accuracy and consistency for every procedure set-up. That means reduced opening and set-up time, which, in turn, enables surgical teams to carry out more procedures. In the new factory, we will also be able to add instruments that cannot afford a second sterilisation cycle to the already sterilised procedure trays.”

Increasing in-house efficiency

The new Czech plant will also allow Mölnlycke to be more flexible when serving its customers as it will be assembling trays to order and sterilising them all in-house before shipping either directly or via distribution centres to its clients throughout the world. The increased internal efficiency will enable the company to be faster and more flexible when it comes to changing tray composition for customers – while maintaining its existing (if very urgent) 48-hour delivery-fromorder promise.

Mr De Kesel added, “The new factory will increase our capacity. It will also make Mölnlycke less dependent on sterilisation suppliers as everything is now made in-house. This gives us increased control over the whole process and shortens the lead-time. The in-house sterilisation will also boost our efficiency further, as the ethylenoxyd degassing will be four times faster.”

The development in the Czech Republic is a part of a wider global investment programme. Last year, for example, the company completed a €2.8 million (SEK 25 million) investment programme at its Oldham factory in the United Kingdom, and equally large sums have been spent on improving facilities in Finland, USA and Thailand.

mölnlycke and Sontara® have a long-standing partnership with a goal to drive safer surgical procedures by leading the market conversion to single-use surgical gowns. Sontara® fabric is a unique nonwoven made from renewable wood pulp and polyester fibers. Together with mölnlycke’s strong development orientation, Sontara® has gained the reputation for “The Comfort in Single use” in medical Apparel and Wound Care applications.

Sontara®, SoftFlush®, Softlite® and Softesse® are brands of Jacob Holm. Jacob Holm combines extensive business experience with creativity to develop unique nonwoven fabrics to meet their customers’ challenges in the Hygiene, Consumer Wipes, Beauty Care, Health Care and Industrial markets.

eric de Kesel

A global leader

Originally founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1849 as a textile company, today Mölnlycke is a global healthcare solutions provider with 17 modern manufacturing plants, of which three are in the USA, six in Asia and the remainder spread throughout Europe. The company’s products can be found in over 100 countries worldwide.

According to Mr De Kesel: “We are a truly global player. As well as our key markets in Europe and the US, we are expanding our operations in Brazil and have established permanent sales offices in China, South America, South Africa and the Middle East.

“Our strategy is to build on our product portfolio and our reputation as the manufacturer of choice in our market sectors. We are the global brand leaders in advanced wound dressings and also hold leading positions in the other sectors we serve. Currently we employ more than 7500 people worldwide. I would say that our USPs are our full spectrum portfolio, our innovative products and strong value propositions. We work in close collaboration with our customers to meet their needs and to help them prepare for future healthcare challenges.”

Advanced prevention and treatment solutions

Product innovation is another major strategic focus for Mölnlycke. In the area of hospital acquired conditions (HAC), the company has developed prevention and care protocols to support medical teams, based on clinical and scientific evidence, as well as a portfolio of products that help to deliver better patient and health economic outcomes.

A good example is the Mölnlycke Prevention Programme for pressure ulcers. It sets out best practice protocols to help hospitals ensure the right team is in place and assess which patients are at higher risk. It also advises on the best use of dressings such as Mepilex® Border Sacrum and Mepilex® Border Heel, which can help to prevent pressure ulcers forming. Another important area for development is patient positioning, including the turning and positioning systems (Tortoise™ and Z-flo™) to protect the head, back and heel by redistributing pressure from stress points.

Mölnlycke’s core business is the advanced wound care range. These advanced dressings, developed exclusively by Mölnlycke, are easy to work with and to apply or reposition as required. The Safetac® silicone layer not only minimises pain and stress for the patient but also prevents ‘skin stripping’ when dressings are changed, as well as maceration that can delay the healing process by causing damage to the peri-wound area. n

For more information about Mölnlycke visit: www.molnlycke.com