Lojer Group is the Finnish market leader in hospital and care equipment, and its operation is divided in three sections: healthcare, senior care and physiotherapy. Lojer develops, manufactures and sells its products and equipment mostly in-house, and offers different kind of renting, leasing and maintenance services according to the end-users’ needs. The company is one of the significant employers in the Finnish healthcare technology sector as it employs directly circa 140 employees nowadays in Finland. Lojer’s revenue is approximately 25M€ and the company has grown to be one of the largest supplier of hospital, care and physiotherapy equipment in the Nordic countries.
Innokas Medical has been Lojer’s partner already since 2010 when Lojer decided to outsource the PCB and module production of the hydraulic surgical table Scandia to Innokas. In addition to the manufacturing cooperation, Innokas designed and developed the necessary production testers for the products together with Lojer R&D team.
As a continuation of the successful manufacturing partnership, the cooperation between the companies expanded later when Lojer chose Innokas as partner in various product development projects. Innokas has for example redesigned the Scandia PCBs to meet the changing needs of the product, customer and authorities and developed the software of the product including the required design documentation. In addition to PCB and module production, Innokas today manufactures the key components of the control unit of the operation table, as well as maintains the product structures. According to Lojer’s Product Development Manager Mika Kuusela, Innokas Medical was chosen as Lojer’s partner especially because of the company’s strong expertise and full-service capabilities.
“Lojer looked for a partner with the necessary expertise and experience within medical devices and the regulatory requirements related to them. We also wanted to find a full-service provider who, in addition to PCB and module production, is able to design and develop the software with the needed documentation, as well as manufacture and test the core components of the control unit and deliver them as ready for the installation”, Kuusela tells the background of the partner selection.
Kuusela mentions that they really appreciate Innokas Medical’s way to take care of the business relationship with Lojer. He explains that the added value they’ve experienced to have from Innokas is related to Innokas’ very strong knowhow as well as an open and honest connection between the companies when discussing about the new business opportunities.
“In addition to the actual ongoing projects we are really happy that we’ve been able to openly discuss about the new innovations and product ideas with Innokas. In these discussions and workshops we have clearly seen Innokas’ very strong expertise and competence to approach the innovations and problems from different perspectives, which has led us to change our mindset related to new product innovations. We have found this very useful and value-added”, he continues.
Kuusela tells that the cooperation between Innokas and Lojer has gone smoothly. He especially values Innokas’ customer-oriented operation, which has surprised him in a positive way.
“Innokas Medical is really professional and reliable partner. We especially value Innokas’ way of operating: it’s accurate and very highly organized but still flexible and tailored according to customer’s specific needs. This has shown us Innokas’ willingness to commit to its customers and their businesses. We see that Innokas has a significant role in Lojer’s operation as the co-operation with Innokas brings us new product development knowhow that we might not have in-house. This is the co-creation and cooperation as its best!”, he concludes.