Sustainability

For us as a globally active family-owned business in the field of medical technology, the top priorities are responsible, fair and sustainable action and continuous further development of Waldemar Link. Thus we ensure that we make a decisive contribution to our social responsibility – not only in the present, but also in the future.

Our focus is on people – this motto determines and shapes all our business decisions. This is the only way we can live up our responsibility to our patients as well as to our employees. The same consistency has always defined our endeavor to gear our actions and business activities to sustainability.

TRUST in partnerships

We emphasize long-term partnerships with our customers and suppliers. These partnerships are characterized by acting on an equal footing and based on shared values.  Our own comprehensive value chain moreover enables us to exert a significant influence on resource-conserving handling of the materials used – from liquid metal to finished product – and the ecological footprint of our products.

INNOVATION with quality

PROGRESS to perfection

In addition to this high quality standard, which is indispensable for the success of our medical technology company, we also see it as a central task to constantly optimize ourselves in all aspects of sustainability, and exceed the legal requirements. That is why we have set ourselves the goal of developing and implementing a comprehensive sustainability strategy based on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

It is incumbent on all of us to preserve and protect the biosphere as the foundation of our global system. As a company, we have particularly great influence on this. In order to make our contribution, we treat the resources entrusted to us responsibly.

Careful and mindful use of resources is a priority at LINK. We are constantly improving our processes and procedures to get closer to the goal of circular economy. Moreover, we optimize our products and production processes in order to use even less material, shorten process times and thereby save energy, and reuse or recycle inevitable waste.

We keep distances short in order to avoid unnecessary CO₂ emissions. We implement this consistently not only within our own production facilities, but also along our supply chain. Over 90% of our suppliers are located in Western Europe, and over 80% directly in Germany. In this manner, we can not only keep our ways short, but also make sure that high environmental standards are complied with in production itself.

We see conversion of our vehicle fleet to electric and hybrid drives and general reduction of travel activities as matters of course. Even beyond the lockdown period of the past COVID years, we enable our employees to work remotely wherever possible and thus avoid commuting. Consequently, our LinkAdemy continues to offer many courses digitally, thereby reducing the need for travel.

We obtain all the water for our use from the local water supply and thus protect the surface waters as well as the groundwater. More than 98% of the used water are fed back, after cleaning and filtration, into the local sewage system. The remaining quantities of water, which cannot be completely purified by us, are disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner in separate containers.

In the highly regulated MedTech environment, which does not allow us to implement changes without external confirmation, coupled with our high quality standards, the protection of our environment is a very challenging task, which we gladly and with great confidence face anew every day.

Apart from a healthy ecosystem, the most important thing for us is people. Our goal is not only to improve the quality of life of patients, but above all our employees are particularly important to us. That is why appreciation of each person and trustful cooperation are crucial to us

Here, too, our aim is to go beyond the legal requirements and create excellent and above all safe working conditions for our employees at all our facilities and along the supply chain. Through regular training and measures subject to reviews, with regular inspections of our operating sites, we have succeeded in keeping the rate of workplace accidents far below the national average for years.

Fair wages and regular health examinations as well as counseling services for employees are just as much a matter of course to us as the promotion of company sports and the offer of bicycle leasing are.

High-quality education and training is the basis for successful, sustainable action. For decades, we have been internationally committed to the training of medical professionals. Through exchange programs, roadshows and training, we have empowered many people in the domestic and international healthcare systems to provide patients with optimal endoprosthetic care. In the long term, this is possible only with highly qualified employees. Out of conviction, we have therefore established a long tradition of training our own staff. From apprenticeships in all fields to dual studies, we support and promote various models in order to counteract the impending shortage of skilled workers.

Only a healthy and strong company can be successful in the long term and make valuable contributions to society. All our employees know the corporate strategy and are aware of their contributions.  We have been focusing on sustainable growth of our company for years.

We attach importance to healthy, organic growth, both in terms of turnover and in the expansion of our workforce. This has enabled us to grow steadily and above the industry average in recent years. Profits are largely reinvested, making us a highly innovative company in a strongly regulated environment. Successful, safe and novel products, based on many years of experience, produced at our own locations, are the result of this consistent action.

All this enables us to maintain the very good working conditions in the production process as well as a consistently high quality in the long term.

True to the spirit of our company founder, we derive our core values which form the foundation of our actions.

That is what sustainable, responsible action and management is about.