Otto Bock regard economics and ecology as a holistic challenge which it strives to master while keeping sight of future generations.
Three things have always been a matter of course at Otto Bock: Commitment to innovation, the courage to invest and the company owner’s dedication to being a
responsible corporate citizen. For these reasons, Otto Bock does not regard economics and ecology as mutually exclusive, but rather as a holistic challenge which it strives to master while keeping sight of future generations. We develop new products with a view of tomorrow and challenge our internal ecology management to come up with new ideas and solutions. At our largest production site, Duderstadt, we maintain extremely low pollution emissions. Energy consumption was lowered drastically throughout the entire company, for example, with the thermic use of production waste, heat recovery from
the ventilating systems, and the use of frequency inverter technology to save electricity. Separate recycling systems for metal and plastic are a standard fixture in the company.
Of great significance is also the progressive, wide ranging continuing education program. The collegial information transfer between orthopedic technicians who fit individual patients, our clients and Otto Bock as system provider has a long tradition and is based on structures that have matured over time.
The company founder was already offering professional seminars as early as the 1920s. This tradition was continued by Dr.-Ing. E.h. Max Näder, who established the Otto Bock seminars.
In order to promote this continuing education program beyond disciplines, Max Näder founded the independent Otto Bock Foundation in 1987. Its goal: The promotion of research and development in technical orthopedics and interdisciplinary continuing education for physicians, engineers and orthopedic technicians. Some of our conferences on gait analysis and CAD/CAM systems have received international recognition. The expansion of the foundation’s mandate to include “activities in the charitable sector” allowed rapid assistance in the summer of 2002 when the “flood of the century” hit Eastern Germany and caused a lot of damage and suffering. Antje and Prof. Hans Georg Näder mobilized the entire company network to quickly organize relief.
When a Tsunami took over 300,000 human lives on December 26, 2004, ravaging big parts of the coastal regions of South East Asia, we spontaneously began our relief action for Khao Lak in Thailand. Only two days after the disaster, employees from Otto Bock South East Asia were fitting the first victims.
Among our particularly sustainable initiatives are the setup and equipping of orthopedic workshops in countries with poor medtech infrastructures. In Kowel (Ukraine) that project was directly linked to our support of the “Children of Chernobyl” foundation, which helped fit children with congenital birth defects due to the radiation. In Lokossa (African Republic of Benin) Otto Bock was proud to contribute to the inauguration of a new home for disabled children in December 2005. In cooperation with the Rotary Club of Salernes (France) Otto Bock HealthCare upgraded the home’s orthopedic workshop with modern orthotic equipment.
Global thinking and concrete involvement on site also shape our international sports promotion concept. We apply our worldwide network to sports because the values and rules of sports very much correspond with those that determine the success of our company: a motivation to achieve a clear goal, team spirit and self-confidence in competitions, fitness as mental and physical mobility, fair play, continual integration of young people and, last but not least, the willingness of every individual to take on responsibility for a common goal. Otto Bock has been promoting these values since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, from whence our leading service competence has been active at all summer and winter Paralympics as the exclusive service provider for the athletes from all over the world.
Economic success and active social responsibility, whether regarding the environment, crisis situations or sports, go hand in hand at Otto Bock. CEO Prof. Hans Georg Näder has declared as the company goal the creation of 1,500 new jobs between 2005 and 2010 and an increase of sales to 800 million euros within the same time period. These are figures that are based on the demands of people all over the world whom we provide with increased mobility and quality of life.
