PAUL HARTMANN AG wins the Out-of-the-Box Thinker Award

At the award ceremony in the BMW World in Munich, from left: Dr. Martin Schönheit (Dr. Schönheit + Partner), Dr. Felix Fremerey (Chief Process Officer of PAUL HARTMANN AG), Dr. Jürgen Heraeus (Heraeus Holding GmbH, Querdenker Honorary Award for his life's work), Michael Heel (Project Manager for the Medical Innovation Center of PAUL HARTMANN AG)

The PAUL HARTMANN AG was awarded the Querdenker Award 2014 in the "Excellence" category for its Medical Innovation Center, which was opened in July 2014 in the presence of Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe. In the final, the medical and care product manufacturer prevailed against four other finalists from different industries.

The award was presented on November 25 by a renowned 25-member expert jury in Munich, which includes prominent personalities from business, film and television, politics, and research institutions.

The Querdenker Foundation awards the Querdenker Awards annually to recognize exceptional pioneers and the most innovative companies that have left traditional paths with courage, passion, and originality, and have successfully taken new routes.

“We are pleased that the jury recognized the high level of innovation of our ‘gläsernen Fabrik’,” said Dr. Felix Fremerey, Chief Process Officer and board member responsible for the Medical Innovation Center project.

“With a holistic planning approach and the consistent implementation of Lean – Clean – Green, PAUL HARTMANN AG has turned the world of production and innovation upside down.”

The company combines lean production, innovation, and direct dialogue with its customers in manufacturing. They bring the operating room into production, demonstrating how ‘Made in Germany’ can be sustainably reinvented for mass products in the cost-driven healthcare market, according to the jury's reasoning for the award.

At the headquarters of the HARTMANN GROUP, 260 employees produce approximately 93 million wound dressings and around 700,000 custom surgical sets annually under state-of-the-art cleanroom conditions in the Medical Innovation Center. A direct spatial proximity of production, logistics, administrative, and development functions has been created in the Medical Innovation Center to ensure that HARTMANN products best meet current customer needs.