System4Med now with augmented range of machines

With its large steam sterilisers from the PS 5000 series, Miele Professional made a decisive step towards expanding its range of products for CSSD applications two years ago. Now, Miele as a full-line supplier is set to offer its first model with space for up to 9 sterile supply units. Thanks to a pressure chamber with greater vertical clearance, the model PS 5969h requires a footprint with reduced depth compared with other machines offering the same capacity. It also opens up the way for the use of shorter infeed and outfeed conveyors than on comparable models with a vertically opening door.

All four model series from this product generation feature a 60 cm wide chamber. With a net height of 90 cm and a gross capacity of more than 730 l, the chamber on the new PS 5969h offers a greater usable capacity than a comparable model, despite the considerably reduced chamber depth.

Like all large steam sterilisers from Miele, the new model is characterised by a fully steam-heated jacket guaranteeing extremely uniform heat distribution. Short cycle times are achieved through the highly effective drying of sterilised loads. Furthermore, Miele machines excel in terms of low consumption and sound emissions.

Far-reaching safety devices set industry standards: The highly precise and maintenance-free spindle door drive enables the chamber door to be stopped and held securely at any position along its path of travel, for example in the event of a power failure. As the door closes, the entire access area is also monitored by a photoelectric safety curtain. If this registers any movement – for example the hand of a user – the door stops dead in its tracks. Furthermore, a redundant system ensures that data for process evaluation and process control are collected and evaluated separately.

"The sterilisers' excellent drying performance and low sound emissions have certainly enhanced day-to-day work in our CSSD", says Ralph van Wezel, pharmacist at the Catherina Hospital in Eindhoven and responsible for quality standards in the reprocessing of sterile supplies. This hospital has been running an entire fleet of Miele machines including 5 large-chamber decontamination units, 5 large steam sterilisers, each with an 8 STU capacity, and a container and trolley washer since the summer of 2012.

As early as autumn 2011, the Trauma Hospital in Salzburg, Austria, was the first to install large steam sterilisers from Miele - two 8 STU units. This was followed at the end of April 2012 by the first German CSSD unit at the Marienstift Hospital in Brunswick, comprising two sterilisers with a capacity of 6 sterile supply units each. Further installations in Germany and abroad soon followed, including the hospital in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth, fitted exclusively with Miele technology: Here, up to 3 large steam sterilisers are able to process a total of 20 STUs simultaneously.

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Company profile: Miele is the world leader in the field of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floorcare products. This line-up is augmented by dishwashers, washer-extractors and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications (Miele Professional). The company, founded in 1899, has 8 production plants in Germany and one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China and Romania. 2011/12 turnover amounted to approx. EUR 3.04 bn with sales outside Germany accounting for 70%. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries. The Miele company, now in the fourth generation of family ownership, employs a workforce of oven 16,700 with two-thirds in Germany. The company headquarters are located in Gütersloh/Westphalia, Germany.