Hospital projects from Scandinavia to Saudi Arabia

With a wide range of solutions for the reprocessing of medical devices, Miele Professional has continued to write the success story started in 2013 as an ever increasing number of hospitals opt to reprocess their medical devices with products from Miele. Over recent months, the company has clinched large orders from among other places Norway, Belgium and Saudi Arabia. Machines for safe and economic reprocessing are just as much in demand there as comprehensive planning, pre-sales advice and fast and expert service.

With around 1000 beds, the University Clinic Haukeland is the biggest hospital in the Bergen region of Norway. Here, the bed-washing centre has been equipped with three large-chamber decontamination units (trolley and container washers) for the reprocessing and disinfection of beds as well as two large-chamber steam disinfectors. The latter disinfect mattresses, pillows and duvets in a patented pressure- and vacuum proof chamber. Miele's sales subsidiary in Norway won the public tender on account of the value for money they were able to offer in combination with service excellence - and they also excelled in terms of speed: The last major refurbishment of the bed-washing centre in 2003 took approximately a full year. This time, the new machines were installed and up and running within only 3 months.

The CSSD at the Jan Palfijn clinic in Ghent/Belgium constitutes one of the largest orders of the past 2 years. Three decades after it was initially inaugurated, the hospital – employer to a workforce of more than 1000 and 130 doctors - has undergone thorough refurbishment. As a larger theatre wing and an enlarged A&E unit have significantly increased the demand for instruments, a new CSSD was urgently needed. The new facility includes 4 large steam sterilisers, a container and trolley washer and 5 large-chamber washer-disinfectors from Miele Professional. Right down to the last detail, technical equipment meets the highest of requirements. Miele’s ROBOTVARIO reprocessing system allows the safe and economical reprocessing of the instruments used in robotic-assisted surgery. ORTHOVARIO, on the other hand, facilitates the thorough but gentle reprocessing and disinfection of the highly specialised instruments used in orthopaedic surgery. Together with automatic baths and ultra-sound cleaning devices combined into island workstations on the unclean side of the CSSD operation, height-adjustable packaging tables relieve strain on employees in their day-to-day CSSD work.

Miele medical technology is also in big demand in the Middle East. By early 2015, Miele machines will also be in use at the Dammam Medical Complex, a 300-bed clinic complex in Saudi Arabia. The order comprising three large steam sterilisers, a container and trolley washer and three large-chamber washer-disinfectors was procured by Miele's sales subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates. An increasing number of hospitals under the control of the Ministry of Health are choosing CSSDs equipped with Miele machines: Clients already include the King Fahd Hospital in Medina and the King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh.

Throughout the world, sound pre-sales advice and planning has been the foundation for Miele's success: New software systems support Miele specialists in quantifying the volume of medical products requiring reprocessing – and also in addressing the arrangement of selected machines within the space available, not least with a view to complying with legal and ergonomic requirements. This provides clients with a realistic impression of their new CSSD long before construction work commences, presenting all rooms in realistically rendered 3D drawings. Computer animations include both machines and packing tables, partitions, and the colour of walls and tiling.

Planning is followed by project implementation relying on the services of experienced project managers. Well-versed service technicians later assume responsibility for installation, commissioning and validation. And, after the hand-over, comprehensive support continues to be available from Miele Professional.

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Company profile: Miele is the world's leading manufacturer of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floor care 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 Miele company, founded in 1899, has 8 production plants in Germany as well as one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China and Romania. 2013/14 turnover amounted to approx. EUR 3.22 bn with sales outside Germany accounting for around 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 around 17,660, 10,411 thereof in Germany. The company headquarters are located in Gütersloh/Westphalia, Germany.