Dear Partner,
The past year has been extraordinary with the coronavirus epidemic causing a lot of unexpected challenges for all of us. There were number of difficulties during the year, but luckily, we also had plenty of reason for joy. We would like to briefly present the most important milestones of our company in 2020.
Bertalan Farkas visited our company
Bertalan Farkas, who has been our dear supporter for many years, visited our company before the COVID epidemic broke out in Hungary. The first Hungarian astronaut took a tour in our factory and at the end of his visit he was pleased to answer a few questions and take some photos with our colleagues.
COVID-19
We have to mention the coronavirus epidemic that has turned our lives upside down. Our company did not stop during this difficult period either, we worked continuously so that our partners, and thus indirectly the patients, would not be left without our products that improve the quality of life. Strict hygiene rules have been implemented at our site, several isolated areas been designated and most of our meetings have moved online.
Support
We are grateful for the self-sacrificing, strenuous work of health care workers, as the protection of our lives depends on the exemplary health care workers fighting the virus on a daily basis. Therefore, aiding the defence against the virus, we supported the Ferenc Markhot Hospital in Eger with HUF 10 million, from which they were able to purchase professional protective equipment for the medical staff. In addition, our employees helped actively as well – blood donations were held at our headquarters several times, which was attended by a large number of employees, knowing that there is a great need for blood donors due to COVID.
We became a large company
In the summer of 2020, our company was officially declared a large company from a medium-sized company. As a 100% Hungarian-owned family business, this is a great honour and pride for us. We are working to hold our “new” ground!
Successful tender
Our company has successfully applied for the Health Industry Support Program, due to which we will make a HUF 1.5 billion project at our site by the middle of next year, for which the government will provide more than HUF 720 million in non-refundable grant. Among other things, a significant capacity extension will take place, the level of development of the company’s Industry 4.0 will improve and site development is also prospective due to the successful tender.
IFKA success
Sanatmetal participated in the Industry 4.0 development program and obtained IFKA silver rating. We were even appointed to a model factory role and invited to participate in the Smart Factories Night event! Why did we get the rating? We have developed a Smart Factory system design in which automation and robotics play an important role. Our next goal is the gold rating!
New product: COMPASS
The biggest pride of the year for us was is the introduction of our new product, the Compass Transpedicular Spinal Stabilization System. This product is the result of two years of development. We are proud of the Hungarian spinal surgery institutes participating in the innovative work, our excellent spine surgeon consultants and our development engineer colleagues.
Sales
Our domestic and foreign sales team also faced serious challenges due to the coronavirus epidemic, but fortunately our partners were extremely cooperative and adapted to the new situation. Apart from a few face-to-face meetings – with proper precautions taken – most of our partner meetings have moved into the online space. As several consultations were held this way, we had the opportunity to develop the range of our implants dynamically.
With our online reporting and inventory registration system, SER (Sanat Easy Report), we support several Hungarian hospitals’ work.
Our foreign trade team achieved an 8% growth compared to the previous year, and our products have also been introduced to new markets such as Ecuador, Tunisia, and Cyprus.
Sanat Academy
We are very proud of our Sanat Academy – launched in 2019 – which, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, has achieved some great success. It is outstanding among them that the organization has obtained accreditation for its first specialist medical courses! Although the trainings had to be cancelled due to the epidemic, it is a great pleasure that the announced numbers have been filled. Trainings will be announced as soon as the pandemic subsides.
As personal trainings could not be held, in 2020 the Academy organized 3 online trainings for foreign partners with 50-100 members, each of which was a great success.
WIWE
The department of the WIWE mini-ECG also had some great achievements. One of these is that a new feature has been added to the device – now it performs HRV measurements which provides reliable feedback on the user’s general health and fitness index, as well as the current state of the circulatory and nervous system.
We also conducted an extensive survey of WIWE users finding out that the device proved to be lifesaving for 52% of respondents. Furthermore, the result of the survey revealed that 5% of the respondents underwent surgery, 17% received medication and 70% changed their lifestyle due to their WIWE measurements. All of this is a huge pleasure, and we are working on helping as many people as possible in the future as well to protect their health with WIWE. Therefore, an extraordinary new service will also be available for WIWE owners from January: they can subscribe for a 24-hour telephone or online medical advice.
For more information, please visit our updated website or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, where we are constantly posting interesting news.
Dear Partner!
Thank you for your attention and support throughout the year!
The Sanatmetal team wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Best regards,
Emese Farkas
Marketing director