Today's management team
In May 2020 – for the first time in the company's history – non-family members have taken up executive responsibilities, now teaming up with Christian O. Erbe in running the enterprise.
Dr. H. Scherer, D. Zimmermann, C. O. Erbe, Prof. M. Enderle, M. Felstead
Following Reiner Thede's retirement, the medium-sized management model will be transformed into a modern corporate structure for the first time in 2020. Christian O. Erbe is filling the newly created management positions with experienced executives from within the company's own ranks. This strengthens the company's future viability and forms the basis for a long-term corporate strategy. The focus is on internationalization, digitalization, sustainability, and a culture of responsibility.
With the establishment of its first production facility in the USA in 2021, Erbe takes the first step toward internationalizing its production. Due to the economic situation, the motto “Made in Germany” is expanded to “Designed by Erbe.” Erbe thus begins manufacturing part of its product range in the USA and China. The international positioning of production helps the group of companies to become more resilient.
Erbe is responding to the growing global demand for single-use instruments by constructing a new production and development facility in Rangendingen. The largest new building in the company's history is being constructed on 25,000 square meters – a state-of-the-art facility with one of the largest clean rooms in the region for the manufacture of single-use instruments for the global market. Special attention is being paid to sustainability: the largely self-sufficient building also makes an important contribution to reducing emissions.
Parallel to its international growth, Erbe will realign its global sales structure starting in 2025. Marketing, sales, and service will be more regionalized and will be the responsibility of regional vice presidents in North America, Latin America, Asia/Pacific, and Europe/Middle East/Africa. This will strengthen the Erbe Group's international presence and lay the foundation for further global growth.
For the first time, Erbe acquires specialists in modern imaging and optical technologies. Optics has always been part of the company's DNA: optical products were once part of its core range – and now the circle is complete. The technologies acquired give Erbe visual access to the body and expand its expertise from visualization to therapy. The acquired companies are brought together under the umbrella of Erbe Vision. The decision quickly bears fruit: in 2022, VIRON X, the first product from Erbe Vision, is launched on the market.
Christian O. Erbe and Reiner Thede
From 2003 to 2020, Christian O. Erbe and his brother-in-law Reiner Thede headed the company as joint Managing Directors. Both had acted as company directors since 1996, leading the company into the new millenium together with Helmut Erbe. Since then, Erbe Elektromedizin has developed at an incredible pace. In 2017, the company had approximately 1,000 employees worldwide, with the workforce having almost doubled within a 15-year period. The company’s international sales network has seen rapid growth as well. The face of Erbe headquarters in Tübingen has changed a lot over the years: a research and development center was built in 2002, followed by a logistics center in 2008. Between 2011 and 2013, Erbe acquired additional properties in the immediate vicinity of company headquarters, and in Rangendingen, a city about 25 kilometers from Tübingen, a second industrial site was established. The construction
project "Expansion West" constituted a quantum leap in the company’s history, with the Tübingen site doubling in size as a result. The Erbe Academy, a training center for customers and Erbe’s own employees, is the key element of this expansion, but a new company canteen, additional office space and large-scale refurbishment of the entire complex were also part of the largest construction project in the company's history to date. Whether in the context of an "industry-on-campus" concept, international research collaboration with renowned universities and scientific centers around the globe, or our traditionally close cooperation with German universities, Erbe employees constantly exchange information with physicians and scientists to identify the most recent trends in research and development and to tap into them for the benefit of patients.
Erbe has been setting standards in electrosurgery since 2002 with the VIO family. Starting with the VIO 300 D workstation as a modular, user-specific configurable platform, through to the VIO® 3 with intuitive touch operation and integrated stepGUIDE, Erbe has consistently developed the system further. Flexible socket configuration, free choice of instruments, and high user-friendliness make the VIO family a technologically leading and internationally successful product line.
HybridKnife is the only instrument on the medical engineering market that combines electrosurgery with waterjet surgery. It enables, for example, fast, risk-free and inexpensive removal of changes and tumors in the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract through endoscopic intervention. HybridKnife allows the essential steps to be carried out, from marking to elevation, and from dissection to staunching of bleeding, generally without any change of instrument.
The BiCision instrument developed by Erbe facilitates innovative surgical procedures that are gentler from the patient's perspective, and support more effective surgery. The instrument exposes tissue structures, staunches blood, seals blood vessels as a result of the effect of the heat, and performs cutting. With BiCision, surgeons can separate blood vessels and tissue bundles directly following electrosurgical sealing, without changing instruments.
*This product is not cleared or marketed in the United States.
Erbe offers extensive training and scientific lectures in its new training center. The target groups include the company's own employees and specialist dealers as well as external clinical operators and OR personnel. Training includes comprehensive knowledge of Erbe technologies and their application on patients.