SFS establishes global manufacturing platform for medical devices business

News – 26 October 2020

SFS is expanding its successful strategy of leveraging a global manufacturing platform to its medical devices business. By making use of additional sites within SFS Group’s global manufacturing platform, customers across North America, Europe and Asia will be served locally under the Tegra Medical brand. As part of this expansion, Walter Kobler, a long-standing member of the Group Executive Board of SFS Group and Head of the Industrial division, will additionally assume management responsibility for the Medical division effective 1 January 2021.

The MedTech industry is a fast-growing global market. This growth is being fueled by demographic developments, strong demand for healthcare services, better access to healthcare systems and high rates of innovation. Sustained strong market demand, SFS Group’s steady growth momentum in the medical device business, and customer need for a manufacturing partner with a global reach formed the basis of management's decision to establish a global manufacturing platform for the Tegra Medical brand.

Initially operating out of North and Central America, Tegra Medical, a premiere contract manufacturer for medical device companies, has been a part of the SFS family as the Medical division since 2016. Intensified collaboration and access to five existing SFS production sites in Switzerland, Malaysia and China will enable Tegra Medical to offer its services to medical device customers in Europe and Asia as a local supplier.

All of SFS Group’s current medical device activities, which up to now were conducted in the Medical and Industrial divisions, will be organizationally situated within the Medical division under the Tegra Medical brand. Jens Breu, CEO of SFS Group: “It is in our DNA to maintain a partnership and trust-based relationship with our customers. We are therefore very pleased to announce the global expansion of our medical device activities, which will allow us to extend our local presence across the globe and deepen our relationships with customers in Europe and Asia.”

As part of this expansion, SFS is announcing a change in management responsibility for the Medical division: Walter Kobler, Head of the Industrial division and a long-standing member of the Group Executive Board, will additionally assume responsibility for the Medical division effective 1 January 2021. Jens Breu, CEO of SFS Group, had previously managed the Medical division ad interim. “This expansion enables us to take full advantage of Tegra Medical’s growth momentum,” says Walter Kobler. “We have set the stage for the next level of growth with the expansion of our production site in Hallau (Switzerland) and with the purchase of a property in Franklin (USA) – a strategically important location due to its proximity to Boston – and are now working towards the division’s sustained positive development by expanding into Asia and Europe.”