Sector Innovator LINET

sector innovator

LINET spol. s r.o. is a member of LINET Group SE, a leading global supplier of hospital beds headquartered in the Netherlands. The company’s long-standing success and growth is based on innovations that help improve the standards of healthcare in more than 100 countries worldwide. Romana Moares reports.

With an annual production of more than 66,000 beds and a geographical coverage spanning over 100 countries, LINET is a clear leader on the European market. The headquarters of LINET spol. s r.o. as well as its production plant continue to be based in Želevčice u Slaného in the Czech Republic, where it has been located since its establishment in 1990. The Czech factory, today employing some 900 people, manufactures around 40,000 hospital beds per year, the vast majority of which are sold in the export markets.

In 2011, LINET spol s .r.o. became a division of the multinational holding organisation LINET Group SE, that has grown into a global player with numerous subsidiaries and local distribution partners worldwide.

Over the years, the company has won a wide range of prestigious industry and business awards. It is regularly ranked in the top ten of

the CZECH TOP 100 poll of most admired firms, at the European Business Awards 2011 it won the Ruban d´Honneur medal, and has won the Award for Design Excellence four times. The company founder and co-owner Zbyněk Frolík was presented with the Businessperson of the Year award in 2003, and was decorated by the President of the Czech Republic with a State Honour – the Medal of Merit – in 2011.

Synergy of functionality and design

The company’s portfolio includes solutions designed for intensive care, products for regular in-bed treatment and also special beds for old people’s homes and long-term care facilities, as well as a wide range of accessories such as anti-pressure ulcer mattresses, and healthcare furniture. In addition, LINET offers its customers a number of related services, so that they can make the maximum use of the technological and functional potential of the products.

LINET’s international success and growth were initiated at the turn of the millennium following the introduction of its Eleganza and Multicare beds that created considerable interest not only as a result of its technological value but also becuase of its attractive design. Today, the work of leading designers is reflected in practically every LINET product – it is the synergy of functionality and appealing design that has differentiated the company from its competitors and created a distinctive brand.

The Multicare bed, suitable for the demanding environment of the intensive and emergency care units, continues to be the company’s

flagship product, a true representative of the company’s offering in the sector of health care beds.

Multicare is a sophisticated resuscitation bed that represents the highest level of care for critical patients. It is equipped with a series of automatic intelligent functions which increase the patient’s safety, support treatment and facilitate the demanding job of critical care professionals. The Multicare portfolio is supplemented by nursing care beds and antidecubitus mattresses that play an important role in the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers.

Global expansion

LINET continues to introduce solutions with innovative features and functions that reduce physical demands on staff, enhance the efficacy of care provided and increase patient comfort. Recent examples include a fundamental innovation in mechanical lung ventilation that was delivered by LINET Canada in Toronto at the Critical Care Canada Forum 2019.

“The effect of automatic lateral therapy on the Multicare bed is to promote ventilation distribution. With EIT, we now have continuous, real-time ventilation imaging to adapt lateral rotation to the patient’s current condition and needs,” explained Martin Ričl, Global Clinical Research Manager for LINET Group. “Using ALT plus EIT is a real breakthrough because it allows treatment to be individualised for each patient and it is much safer and easier for both the patients and the physicians,” he added.

LINET Canada was founded only in February 2019, joining the group of LINET’s subsidiaries, together with LINET Australia also opened in 2019, in line with the Group’s ambitious plans for further expansion.

Succinctly summarised by Mr Frolík, who, after nearly 20 years, is leaving executive positions in the company to join the Supervisory Board: “The company’s ambitions remain as high as possible: double the size of the company within five years. It’s clear that organic growth won’t be enough, despite the fact that LINET has long outperformed its competitors. This means we won’t be avoiding acquisitions; on the contrary, that’s the path we are likely to take. If 70 per cent of our sales are currently coming from Europe, in the future we want to have more than half of our sales outside of Europe, primarily in the United States,” he affirmed. n