13. B. Braun
$5.9 Billion
KEY EXECUTIVES:
Heinz-Walter Große, Chairman of the Management Board
Wolfgang Feller, Head of the Avitum Division
Hanns-Peter Knaebel, Head of the Aesculap Division
Meinrad Lugan, Head of the Hospital Care & OPM Divisions
Caroll H. Neubauer, Head of the North America Region
NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 41,666
GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS: Melsungen, Germany
Guy Egon, M.D., works at the Centre de l’Arche in Le Mans, France, a rehabilitation facility for children and adults suffering from severe burns, neurological disorders and musculoskeletal diseases. In addition to his duties as a physician, Egon helps B. Braun Melsungen AG set up focus groups that provide feedback on the company’s products. One of those focus groups led to the development of the Actreen Lite Cath, a sterile, single-use prelubricated catheter for patients suffering from urinary incontinence, and its cousin, the Actreen Lite Mini, a urinary catheter designed specifically for women.
“Together with experts from a wide range of fields, we are constantly expanding and consolidating our knowledge and sharing it with customers, business partners and clinicians,” former Management Board Chairman Ludwig Georg Braun, who retired March 31, 2011, tells readers in the company’s 2010 annual report (he was replaced by former Board Vice Chairman Heinz-Walter Große). “As such, we are living up to our guiding principle of ‘Sharing Expertise’ every day.”
Such generosity with its knowledge helped the company increase its overall sales last year by 9.8 percent and its gross profit by 10.9 percent in euros, though a stronger U.S. dollar and more robust currencies in Asia and Latin America also contributed to the growth. (Editor’s note: Percentages reflect changes based on the local currency in which the financials were reported—in this case, the Euro—and do not take into account annual foreign currency exchange fluctuations. Dollar amounts were converted using the exchange rate on the last day of the reporting period, which for B. Braun, was Dec. 31). In keeping with its commitment to “share expertise,” the company established a public-private partnership with the government of India’s Andhra Pradesh to establish 11 dialysis centers within state-run hospitals. Once up and running, the centers are expected to provide free treatment to roughly 1,000 patients suffering from chronic kidney diseases.
That partnership was one of the crowning achievements in B. Braun’s efforts to share its know-how with a greater number of people last year. Those efforts culminated in the opening or completion of several expansion/construction projects in Europe and Southeast Asia, including the expansion of a Swiss facility that manufactures empty parenteral nutrition bags and the completion of construction of a clinical nutrition factory in Germany. In addition, the company expanded the dialyzer production capacity in its Radeberg and Berggießhübel facilities (both in Germany), put the finishing touches on its Ecoflac production facility expansion project in Rubi, Spain, and worked to ensure the multi-year expansion and restructuring of its Penang site in Malaysia would be completed on time (its target completion date is 2014). B. Braun also constructed a new, five-building manufacturing campus at its headquarters in Melsungen, Germany, to expand its infusion pump production capacity. Dubbed Avitum Village, the new campus will be able to produce more than 207,000 pumps annually, executives said. One of the five plants is dedicated to infusion pump production, while the others house research and development space as well as services and training areas.
“This is a campus that is completely devoted to the development, manufacture and support of infusion devices,” Gale White, vice president of Infusion Systems Marketing for B. Braun Medical Inc., said when construction of the new campus was announced. “It will enable us to meet the increasing demand for syringe and large volume infusion pumps today and well into the future.”
Demand for B. Braun’s Infusomat Space and Perfusor Space infusion pump products was “highly encouraging” last year but both devices have quite a ways to go before they can be considered bestsellers. Still, the two products helped boost 2010 sales by 9.6 percent to 2.08 billion euros in the company’s Hospital Care division. Other sales drivers included the firm’s multi-chamber intravenous bag (Nutriflex) and single-chamber bag (Lipofundin, in particular); the Introcan Safety and Vasofix Safety catheters; needles and sets for regional anesthesia; and injectable medicines, namely Propofol- Lipuro and Duplex.
The Asia/Pacific region generated the most sales for the Hospital Care division, though transactions improved in Eastern Europe, Russia and Poland. The division itself netted the most amount of money for the company, followed by the Aesculap division, Outpatient Market division, and Avitum unit.
The Aesculap division posteda record 11.1 percent sales increase in 2010, year ended Dec. 31. Sales totaled 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion), according to the company’s 2010 annual report. Executives attributed the increase in this division to robust sales of Vena Cava filters, single-use elastomeric pumps and SterilContainer systems as well as the SeQuent Please drug eluting balloon stent, which received CE Mark approval in 2009. Other strong performers were knee systems, Novocart 3D, a product for treating articular cartilage damage, and spinal devices such as the Spyder Minimally Invasive Spinal Retractor System, a mechanism that features top-loading blades that can be removed intra-operatively without the need to remove the retractor frame during use. The blades and retractor arms are made from X-ray translucent titanium alloy and retract and tilt, giving surgeons an optimal view of the procedure site and eliminating the need for large incisions.
B. Braun’s Avitum division rebounded from its poor 2009 showing to post the largest sales increase last year. Data from the annual report indicate that sales expanded 12.9 percent to 475 million euros, or $629 million. Growth in this division came from recovering currencies in the Czech Republic and Poland as well as strong sales of disposables, concentrates for dialysis and dialyzers (artificial kidneys). Sales of dialysis machines, which were impacted in 2009 by weak demand, recovered last year to become one of the division’s best sellers.
The weakest sales growth came from B. Braun’s Outpatient Market division, which was unable to top its 2009 act. Sales climbed 5.5 percent to 555 million euros, or $735 million. Strong sales of skin and wound management products, particularly the Prontosan product line, was offset by high flu vaccine inventory and lower demand for the serum. Urological incontinence and irrigation therapy products experienced solid growth, though urine drainage bags and closed urine systems (Ureofix) posted weaker than expected sales due mostly to a supplier default.