COMPANY SPOTLIGHT One hundred years of German
Although proud of the past, Ulrich Medical’s CEO, Klaus Kiesel, is focussing on the future.
precision medical engineering ulrich medical, the southern German company producing a range of preci- sion medical instruments such as CT and MRI contrast media injectors is celebrating one hundred years of its existence this year. We wanted to find out what makes the company tick and what’s behind the relatively rare event of a company reaching a hundred years of age in the con- stantly changing world of medical technology, so we spoke to Mr Klaus Kiesel, CEO.
Q
Congratulations on reaching a hundred years of age. How exactly did the company start and what was it involved in back in 1912?
In 1912, at the age of 36 Heinrich Christian Ulrich set up a small medical technology and orthopedics fac- tory in the southern Germany city of Ulm, thus setting the stage for the flourishing business with worldwide coverage that the company is today. The company’s first product was the Möltgen protractor; over the 100 years of company history a huge number of instruments have been designed, developed and marketed.
Q
And now, a hundred years later? What are the company’s main activities? In which medical fields are you active and in what geographical markets? What have been the principal events in the evolu- tion of the company from its small beginnings to its current position?
Today we specialize in four product areas. The surgical instruments unit has been a part of the company since its beginning and covers a wide variety of high quality instruments for a variety of surgical and medical examinations. The spinal systems unit develops, manufactures and distributes implants that are primarily made of titanium, and are used for treat- ing injuries and illnesses of the spine. We are renowned as a technological leader in the field of contrast agent injectors for CT and MRI, and finally we are German market leader for pneumatic and auto- matic tourniquets used for extremity blood flow control and therefore used for a variety of surgeries in almost every hospital. The common feature of these divisions is the belief that close customer contact is essential to our business. In markets that are strategically important for us, namely Germany and the U.S., we therefore rely on direct sales operations Our direct US distribution subsidiary was set up in 2006; worldwide we operate in over 70 coun- tries through exclusive distribution partners.
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Ever since we were founded, we have left a significant imprint on German medical device development and history. For example, in 1934, based on an idea of a surgeon called Friedrich, we began working on a sys- tem for gastro-intestinal stitching which ultimately became the famous so-called Ulrich’sche device. In 1952 we produced the world’s first artificial metallic finger joint (the Brannon-Klein joint) and around the same period Ulrich intratracheal anesthesia systems were introduced into German hospitals. At this time instruments were being developed for thoracic, large lung surgery and open heart surgery — we introduced the first German heart-lung machine in 1958. Develop- ing out of the surgical instruments field, in 1978 the company got into the production of spinal instruments and implants with the launch of the well-known Zielke VDS spinal instruments Then in 1985 a new chapter of the company’s his- tory opened up with the development of the first CT contrast agent injector. In 1991 the world’s first MRI injector was developed by the company. Fourteen years after that Ulrich Medical became the first company in the world to develop a contrast agent injector with tandem technology which enables the administration of two different contrast agents under tight electronic control. In turn, this results in highly efficient processes and cost savings. Over the years some strategic re-orientation has taken place in the company. Thus in 2000 some operating units such as the medical supply, rehabilitation and clinical consultation units were sold to enable the com- pany to focus on the in-house development and manu- facture of medical products under the current “Ulrich Medical“ trademark. The company has also expanded geographically, for example in January 2006 the US subsidiary, Ulrich medical USA, Inc. was opened in Chesterfield, St. Louis, MO. The corporate headquarters in Ulm, Germany have been enlarged with the opening of new production and administration facilities.
APRIL/MAY 2012
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