2019-11-06

Quality, no matter what we do.

Our demanding quality guidelines form the basis of our regional and international business activities.

The L&R Group’s high quality standards arise directly from our corporate mission:

„The purpose of our company is to enable people worldwide to receive the best possible medical care, which we consider central to quality of life. Our demanding quality guidelines form the basis of our regional and international business activities.“

Wolfgang Süßle
CEO

L&R has a background of over 160 years’ experience in the production of dressing materials and medical devices of the highest quality and we are dedicated to continue pursuing our mission in the future. Using entrepreneurial innovation, we develop practical product ideas together with our customers, which have an impact on the healthcare market today and sustainably in the future. 

“As a company operating in the healthcare sector, the quality of our products and solutions is crucial for our customers’, users’ and patients’ safety. L&R acts based on the internationally recognised and certified quality management standards ISO 9001 and ISO 13485. We always work in accordance with defined standards, with tested raw materials, bought-in parts, components and services. Our comprehensive incoming raw material inspections and end product safety inspections furthermore ensure quality”, as Oliver Opitz, Manager of the L&R Group’s Quality & Regulatory Affairs, phrases it.

The L&R Group also complies with and fully meets the specific international standards and laws that govern the production and sales of medical devices. The Group furthermore only ­releases products that meet international regulations and have successfully gone through all of the marketing approval processes.

L&R is furthermore certified as meeting the requirements of DIN ISO 13485 for the design, manufacture and sales of medical devices. This certification is one of the cornerstones of our business operations. The L&R Group is continuously improving its quality management processes, integrating new companies and products, and adapting to changes in legislation and standards.

The L&R Group’s stringent product and service quality standards are applied across the Group’s entire value chain. This means that our holistic quality management system stands for high-quality and durable products and efficient solutions from product development to our training modules for users and employees. This is what sustainability means to L&R: L&R’s quality claim generates cost savings for both the company itself and for our customers and helps to protect resources. Oliver Opitz: “Our approach to quality is to ‘do it right the first time’ – i.e. to pay attention to every little detail and do everything properly right from the start – our process quality reflects just that. We want to avoid mistakes, that is our lived quality claim.”

Innovation – Research – Development

L&R has an excellent reputation amongst its stakeholder groups in the health sector. Last but not least, this is due to the wide range of awards the company has received over the years. L&R develops products, solutions and services at international development centres and in networks and consistently achieves quality standards, which perfectly justify the confidence invested in the company.

Sustainability is a core principle and already inherent in all of L&R’s innovation, research and development work. Hence, product benefits for patients are naturally focussed on as is the identification of further means of contributing to improving patients’ quality of life. This question is already taken into account during the design input process, which precedes the development of new products. However, we also constantly work on optimising our manufacturing methods, packaging and logistics as well as the product’s entire life cycle:

  • Reducing the packaging material whilst simultaneously making it more user-friendly. 
  • Continuous improvement in our products’ performance. 
  • Using the design process whilst taking international regulations for global market maturity into account.
  • Closely collaborating with technical designers: process improvement, avoiding waste and avoiding wasting energy. 
  • Risk management process and stringent usability testing.

Quality, no matter what we do.

Solutions and products for tomorrow.

L&R continuously works on improving its existing products as well as on developing new and innovative products at its research and development centres. In order to ensure that it will continue to be able to do this in future, the ­company always works with the latest technology and strives to ­expand its research competence. At the end of 2017, L&R opened its new Biofilm Centre of Excellence at its Schönau an der Triesting development facility in Austria. It focuses on ­researching biofilms, which are a critical element in almost all chronic wounds, and the consequent development of ­effective antimicrobial wound dressings.

In 2018, L&R furthermore created an internal team of experts for working on the challenges presented by antimicrobial wound dressings. The Biofilm Centre of Excellence’s close links to international experts and researchers furthermore forms an essential part of the work it performs. The centre’s high-quality, internal testing capabilities are essential for sustainable product development and guarantee quick and agile processes. 

The high-quality, innovative and durable products produced by L&R conserve resources, ensure that patients worldwide receive the best available care and regularly receive awards.

One example of our many award-winning products is our Debrisoft Lolly. The Debrisoft Lolly has been developed for the debridement of deep wounds, including those resulting from invasive surgery. This innovative product from L&R is very easy to use and now enables effective debridement even in hard-to-reach areas. Debrisoft and the Debrisoft Lolly currently represent the gold standard in mechanical debridement.

L&R received its first awards for its negative pressure therapy solutions as far back as 2011 and 2016 and its Suprasorb CNP Drainage Film was awarded the innovation prize of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. 

The Austrian Economic Chambers (WKO) and state of Lower Austria furthermore awarded Suprasorb CNP EasyDress the Lower Austria Innovation Prize 2016 in the “Innovations for Industry” category. Thanks to its 3D geometry and special flexible material, Suprasorb CNP EasyDress enables particularly rapid occlusion on the extremities in a way that protects healthy skin in preparation for negative pressure therapy. This dressing becomes airtight in readiness for negative pressure therapy considerably more quickly than conventional dressings. The award acknowledges L&R’s R&D expertise in the medical technology sector, which the company has concentrated at its Schönau an der Triesting site in Lower Austria.

„Having more capacity, new laboratory equipment and additional workplaces puts us in an excellent position for improving our research and development work. We are now also able to run our own comparative tests and analyses for new product solutions using standardised methods.“ 

Dr. Christian Rohrer
Director Research and Development

Quality First – our quality standards taking things to the next level

L&R has created an internal employee information and motivation campaign under the umbrella of its comprehensive quality management system in order to make the subject of quality and its significance for the company more tangible. This campaign – Quality First – is a genuine quality offensive aimed at production and all associated units. In order to help employees to identify with the campaign, the creators came up with a newly designed visual called “CARi”. CARi stands for quality and caring for the people whose quality of life L&R is working to improve on with its advanced quality products.

The first phase of the campaign is targeted at raising employee awareness of the issue of quality and motivating them to take part. The second phase will also focus on defining KPIs and, once the campaign has ended, on analysing target achievement. In order to do so, Quality First initially set out to offer employees a wide range of opportunities for delving deeper into the issue of quality at L&R. 

Quality First was launched at international level through kick-off events held at L&R’s Neuwied and Neuwied-Block plants. The campaign was subsequently rolled out at L&R’s Schönau, Nová Paka, Stará Paka, Slavkov and Remiremont plants in 2018. During these launches, the Quality First team provided employees with information on the basic principles of quality 

and quality assurance within the company by drawing on L&R’s international quality assurance training documents, but also motivated the teams and, using fun games, made clear the importance of every individuals’ contribution to ensuring sustainable production at L&R.

The campaign event attendance figures of 70 to 85 per cent across the various production facilities clearly show that employees value the importance of quality in their work. All of the ideas generated in connection with the campaign concerning the company’s internal suggestion system, suggestions on how to improve workplaces, training, safety, hygiene and material processing are currently being examined and integrated into our daily operations. This year will see the campaign extended even further and being even more closely integrated into L&R’s quality management system.