PHILIPS - TRANSFORMING HEALTH TECH
WE ALL KNOW Philips . At some point we ’ ve purchased one of its lightbulbs , DVD players , or televisions . However , fewer people are aware that the company is also a big player in the healthcare industry . In this sector it currently has the ambition to better the world ’ s healthcare , with a target to improve the lives of 3bn people each year . Currently it ’ s at 2.2bn .
In doing so Philips has become part of the fast-growing circular economy , a system that is , and should , overtake how the world has so far been operating - i . e . the linear economy which , in other words , is taking , making , and throwing away .
Circular economy is about making best use of what is available and wasting as little as possible , and in healthcare Philips refurbishes medical equipment for it to be used by clinicians , encouraging them to re-use these parts rather than buy new ones .
However , as Markus Laubscher , the organisation ’ s Director of Sustainability , explains , this is nothing new . “ The whole industry has been doing this for a number of years , and that is basically due to the nature of having large equipment in hospitals that
Markus Laubscher Philips Director of Sustainability
requires a lot of effort to build .”
It is also something that customers request because it makes products cheaper . “ We see this as a strategic opportunity to keep material at a higher value and longer in use ,” Laubscher says . “ We can lower the overall costs by not shredding and throwing these instruments away , as was done in the past .
“ It really was a case of we produce new , we sell , and that ’ s basically it ,” Laubscher says , “ whereas now the situation is much more about equipment that is out in the field that
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