Specialized in the design and manufacturing of medical devices, SGH Healthcaring is the successful result of the strategic alliance of three experts in plastics processing applied to the pharmaceutical industry and the medical sector. With more than 14,000 m2 dedicated to production, including 3,000 m2 of clean rooms, and 200 employees, the group produces more than one billion injected molded components annually. Connect in Pharma sat down with Olivier Derouard, Sales & Marketing Director at SGH Healthcaring, to discuss the group’s values and its commitment to sustainability.
As a designer, manufacturer, and subcontractor of medical devices, what commitments does SGH Healthcaring offer to its customers and what values do you share with them?
Olivier DEROUARD: SGH Healthcaring’s mission is to make the daily lives of patients and caregivers easier by improving existing devices and creating those that will meet their future needs.
To achieve this, the company relies on four main commitments: identification of user needs, product innovation, industrial expertise, and quality. Identifying end-user needs is the starting point for designing innovative devices. Engineers, designers, and ergonomists work together to analyze markets and user needs. This, to imagine and develop innovative and functional concepts, that allow the creation of useful,
easy to use devices.
Our historical industrial know-how reflects our values. The group possesses a highly
automated high-speed production equipment and carries daily preventive and corrective maintenance to preserve the highest levels of quality and performance. Quality is an essential component of customer satisfaction and a major concern at SGH Healthcaring. Our development and manufacturing processes integrate regulatory requirements such as CE marking for medical devices, FDA registration, and ISO 13485: 2016, ISO 15378: 2015, and ISO 14001: 2015 certifications.
The recent pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the supply chains in the
pharmaceutical industry. What strategy has SGH Healthcaring chosen to prevent these tensions?
OD: In addition to their own challenges, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are currently facing a supply challenge. SGH Healthcaring enjoys a multi-geographic position with 3 distinct production sites, a major asset that allows it to regulate the supply risk. To be even more responsive, SGH Healthcaring acquired, in 2021, a new DNA/RNA free workshop with an ISO 8/5 clean room, increasing its production capacity by 20%. Fully automated, it is dedicated to the production of in-vitro diagnostic consumables to meet the growing demand of this market.
Besides, the group must ensure its sourcing, mainly in medical grade material. The most important point is to be able to register and qualify several materials and their suppliers in the technical files for CE marking to have alternative solutions that are already approved. This work of qualification and approval of raw materials, which involves numerous upstream tests, is strategic and essential for securing production.
As a manufacturer of medical devices and primary and secondary packaging, what
actions have you introduced to positively impact the environment?
OD: Every decision we take can have a significant impact on the environment. Therefore, our production equipment has been optimized for many years to avoid product losses, consume as little energy as possible and recycle waste. Our CSR policy consolidates and formalizes SGH Healthcaring’s commitment to ethical rules and principles in all its processes. Our guidelines include contributing positively to society, reducing our impact on the environment, caring for our stakeholders, and providing sustainable employment.
SGH Healthcaring is taking several actions from an environmental sustainability point of view. For instance, the group has set the goal to substitute fossil fuel-based raw materials by recycled and/or bio-based materials, if regulations allow. Our Greenov® range, is a result of this decade old commitment. New resources are regularly tested to meet environmental challenges. When the transition to “green” materials becomes a standard in the industry, the group will be ready to implement them immediately.
SGH Healthcaring’s R&D department also proposes eco-responsible concepts through materials, but also through the design of products its selves. The group aims to use as little material as possible, preferably single-material, and 100% recyclable resins, to reduce its CO2 emissions and costs. Finally, the investments made in production equipment, particularly, the acquisition of electric rather than hydraulic presses, allow the company to control its carbon footprint.
In a few words, could you tell us more about your motivation in becoming a founding partner of Connect in Pharma?
OD: It was important for SGH Healthcaring to contribute to the creation of this event, which brings together players from the major markets where the group operates. It is also an opportunity to present our new workshop and its automated production line for IVD consumables. Which will be the subject of a presentation on the theme of “Automation in the Production of Medical devices for IVD”, on September 15th at 10:50 a.m.
