Headquartered in Hamburg-Stellingen, Weinmann Emergency now has seven braches worldwide in Atlanta, Dubai, Madrid, Paris-Les-Ulis, Shanghai and Singapore. Their medical products including 60,000 ventilators are used in over 100 countries. Commenting on Weinmann Emergency's 150th anniversary, Peter Tschentscher, Mayor of Hamburg, said: "Medical technology is an industry of the future, which is also based on the innovative strength of many SMEs. Weinmann is a hidden champion that has positioned itself worldwide with its products," Almost 500,000 emergency calls were made in Hamburg in 2023 alone. Given this backdrop, Tschentscher stressed: "In around 340,000 cases, the emergency services were alerted, i.e., an ambulance, emergency doctor or rescue helicopter was called. It wasn't always a matter of life and death - but a Weinmann device was most likely used." The same applies to ambulances donated by Hamburg to Ukraine as part of the "Pact for Solidarity and the Future". "Six ambulances were donated including those of Weinmann as part of the Hamburg Fire Brigade's aid campaign for Ukraine. We are also part of the #WeAreAllUkrainians initiative. We have close links to aid organisations and will continue to support projects in future," said André Schulte, CEO, who manages the company with Philipp Schroeder.
Founded in 1874 by Gottlieb Weinmann, Weinmann Emergency Medical Technology's mission is to save lives. Since the company moved from Ludwigshafen to Hamburg in 1956, it has morphed from its beginnings in precision engineering into an international medical technology company. Although the initial focus was on producing oxygen and diving equipment for the German armed forces to clear harbours of the remnants of both world wars, Weinmann Emergency soon made headlines with its mobile system solutions for emergency, transport and disaster medicine. Since then, production has focused on an emergency kit that is attracting growing international interest. Joachim Griefahn, father of Marc Griefahn, Managing Director and President of Weinmann Emergency, came across an executive briefcase and hit on the idea for a space-saving alternative to the heavy wooden cases used until then. Equipped with life-saving instruments, the case is practical, lightweight and mobile. Another milestone was the fully automatic, time-controlled Medumat ventilator for ambulances. Several products for monitoring and defibrillation as well as medical data management have been added. All these innovations led to a turnover of EUR 75 million in 2023.
Mayor honours hidden champion
Commitment to Hamburg as a location
The company is now laying plans to build a new headquarters in Gasstraße near Science City Bahrenfeld. The 10,000 square metre building will house management, R&D, test stations and small series production. "The Gasstraße project is still in the planning stages. We are saying a clear 'yes' to Hamburg," said Schulte. "Hamburg is a really attractive city with many universities with which we maintain close contact. We always have people with bachelor's and master's theses in the company, which helps us stay abreast of all the latest technological developments." The company also has good links to the Life Science Nord industry network: "The Hamburg Metropolitan Region remains the right place to continue on our growth trajectory.”
Medical technology now advancing innovations
"The German medical technology industry is a catalyst of innovation throughout Europe. Germany generates around EUR 40 billion of the EUR 160 billion turnover," said the German Medical Technology Association (BVMed). "The German medical technology sector has a 9.9 per cent share of the world market, second only to the U.S. with 38.8 per cent and ahead of China and Japan, which demonstrates its innovative strength," says the BVMed website.
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