We are Richard Wolf
Working to advance endoscopic medicine for more than 100 years.
Richard Wolf GmbH is a global leader in minimally invasive surgery with 16 subsidiaries and 130 distributors meeting the needs of surgeons, medical professionals, and patients with high-quality, precision endoscopic instruments.
Since 1906, we have been dedicated to working with leading medical experts around the world to develop innovative products that enhance surgical results and save lives. The spirit of excellence is the guiding principle for everything we do, from the earliest stages of R&D to the moment one of our instruments is shipped to a facility. We are constantly striving to shape the future of minimally invasive surgery and improve patient outcomes.
Innovators in Endoscopy
Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corporation is the first and largest subsidiary of Richard Wolf GmbH. Through our careful collaboration with respected surgeons and industry leaders, we have built a portfolio that is as innovative as it is extensive. Used for a wide range of procedures, our endoscopes, hand instruments, and working elements are designed to meet the needs of surgeons and ensure the health of patients. We are focused on positively impacting outcomes through innovations in endoscopy, and our dedication to excellence is reflected across our entire line of products.
Located just north of Chicago in Vernon Hills, Illinois, our US headquarters is home to our manufacturing, assembly, sales, marketing, repair, customer service, and administrative teams, as well as our state-of-the-art biolab and training center, Academy Prima Vista. Our clinical experts and sales representatives service medical facilities across the country.
Corporate philosophy
Our Motivation
We live the "spirit of excellence" every day to promote people‘s health and quality of life to the highest degree. People are at the center of everything we do.
Our Mission
Thorough customer focus at the grassroots level forms the foundation of our actions. It is more than just a task for us to continuously exploit potential for improvement: This is our permanent commitment and the long-term principle of our production organization. Our goal is to act sustainably by finding solutions together and implementing them consistently. We concentrate both on the approval of existing products in focus markets and on the development of innovative products for established markets.
Our Vision
Together with our customers, we develop outstanding products and services that serve the well-being of patients. We inspire our customers with unique added value and address end-users in human medicine worldwide in various specialties with our innovative products and services. We pique the interest of end-users with our own products as well as the products of our business partners. The goal is to achieve a leading market position in our core areas of expertise and to provide superior value to support our partners‘ excellent market position. As a first-class employer with a focus on sustainability, we have a responsibility to society as a whole. Our corporate culture is future-oriented, value-driven and positively characterized by promoting and challenging. Being represented worldwide, we recognize risks at an early stage and consistently exploit opportunities.
Richard Wolf has a long standing record in endoscopy and enjoys a reputation as a reliable and trustworthy business partner. We are unambiguously committed to legal compliant conduct, transparency, sustainability, and fairness and integrity. We develop, manufacture and market our products based on the benchmarks of premium quality, customer satisfaction and safety for patients. Today, adherence to laws, and rules and principles of conduct specific to individual companies is described as “compliance” (conformity with regulations). The executive management in Knittlingen has defined global compliance standards for this and implemented them in the form of a code of conduct with associated guidelines. These guidelines are binding and apply worldwide for all employees working for Richard Wolf, including the executive management and our subsidiary companies.
Over recent decades, Richard Wolf has gained an outstanding reputation for quality and innovation in endoscopy. Richard Wolf has given these rules of conduct concrete form as internal company guidelines in order to maintain this reputation. The compliance guidelines created for this purpose provide a binding benchmark for conduct adopted by all employees. Furthermore, our objective is to be a fair partner for customers and suppliers with transparent business processes.
Quality is the foundation for our success – “spirit of excellence”
The quality of our products and service forms the platform for ensuring the continuous success and satisfaction of our customers in the marketplace. We achieve excellent quality and premium product safety through compliance with the regulatory requirements of our target markets and collaboration between all the divisions of the company. This principle is supported by motivated employees with a high level of expertise and a strong awareness of quality. On this basis, our processes and workflows are being continuously improved. Efficient and effective processes avoid non-conformance costs, secure business development and promote the success of our company.
Quality philosophy
Product quality and product safety
We develop and position high quality products to meet the needs of the marketplace. This involves using the latest technologies and engaging in knowledge exchange with opinion leaders in focused areas of applications. Our products are engineered with the state of the art technology to meet the highest requirements for product safety. Systematic analysis of the products in the market over the entire product life cycle enables the weak points to be identified at an early stage and appropriate measures to be introduced.
Customer satisfaction
We ensure customer satisfaction through highly motivated employees, well-developed service strategies, maximum quality for our products and services, and expert advice and support.
Regulatory requirements
Our objective is to meet the regulatory requirements of our target markets at all times.
Collaboration between the divisions
Interdisciplinary communication is ensured by regular meetings. These meetings aim to take decisions on steering the company in the right direction. When reaching decisions of this nature, it is important to meet the expectations of our customers while simultaneously taking the business interests of the company into account. These considerations need to be implemented in a well-balanced approach.
Employees
A continous analysis alongside employee discussions and systematic advanced training, ensure a high level of specialist expertise in all areas.
Processes and workflows
Quality is a collaborative effort. A joint approach enables us to carry out regular process reviews with the objective of optimizing the effectiveness and efficiency of our process workflows. This in turn forms a building block for the success of our company. Systematic Internal Audits are carried out to ensure the effectiveness of our processes and workflows. Transparency, communication and training create continued quality awareness.
Business development
Preventive non-conformance management and reduction of waste drive an increase in profitability. Our aim is therefore to prevent faults at an early stage or at least to identify them as quickly as possible. They can then be monitored to ensure the improvement of our products and workflow.
Quality Management System
The quality management system implemented by Richard Wolf is certified in conformity with DIN EN ISO 13485 and EC Directive 93/42/EEC. As a company operating on the global stage, we also meet international requirements of our target markets. Additionally we are MDSAP certified.
ISO 13485 Certificate MDSAP Certificate MDR Certificate
Richard Wolf is continuosly striving to work towards excellence. This is the maxim for a holistic, lean transformation. Our interpretation of the concept of W-OPEX expresses the Wolf Operational Excellence Concept. It encompasses the alignment of the company with the requirements of the marketplace, our customers, and our own corporate guidelines. An interdisciplinary roadmap for incremental process optimization defines the route to achieving our ambitious goals.
The W-OPEX philosophy is already deployed at the first stage of the entire supply chain in order to enhance added value and cost-effectiveness in the relevant business processes. The sales processes follow in the next stage geared to increasing the positive effects. Another component of W-OPEX is Critical Chain Project Management in research and development, which reduces the time to market by maximizing innovation and project throughput. An improvement organization was created in order to foster sustainable transformation within the company and achieve the ambitious targets.
A self-learning organization is being created together with employees and managers with the objective of achieving continuous improvement.
More than 100 years of experience
Founded in 1906 by Georg Wolf in Berlin, the Wolf Group has drawn on its over 100 years of experience to play a leading role in the development of endoscopy and shockwave therapy. Innovative solutions for human medicine are the result. This integration of science and medicine is what defines the quest for first class products and system solutions. Richard Wolf GmbH has been owned by the Richard and Annemarie Wolf Foundation since 1968.
A global presence
What began as a family business from the headquarters in the German town of Knittlingen has grown to become a company of international relevance with a global presence. We currently have 16 subsidiaries and 130 distributors across the globe, to ensure we are able to fulfill the wishes and needs of physicians, patients, and technicians alike. In addition, further service locations work to meet requirements in particularly strong or emerging markets, due to supply and demand.
Multiple award-winners
Richard Wolf had many awards, such as quality, design, innovation, product design, or for our branding and communication strategy, and we continue Richard Wolf GmbH has been honored with awards on multiple occasions.
The core nova and OR integration solution was named as the top product at the M&K AWARD 2017. What's more, Richard Wolf received the Medical Communication Award in recognition of the company's marketing strategy in 2017. At international level, the ENDOCAM® Flex HD endoscopy camera was recognized by the International Business Award.
Putting people at the heart
In every area we are involved in, values such as fairness, respect, team spirit, and trust shape a good working environment in which quality and sustainable entrepreneurial results thrive.
Enjoying the work that we do is an essential factor for success at Richard Wolf. Our employees demonstrate our "spirit of excellence" with passion and knowledge, and—what's more—with a smile!
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