Ergonomics Facilitate Care Provision

Q: What services does Ergotron offer to the healthcare sector and how important is this division for the company?

A: Ergotron’s headquarters are in Saint Paul, Minnesota, but we are present in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Pushing our brand forward in other regions is a priority for the company. Ergotron works in different sectors but healthcare is an extremely important part of our business. We have served the healthcare sector for more than 30 years and, to put it simply, we are devoted to helping caregivers thrive. We have created flexible and ergonomic healthcare solutions that are safe and built to last. From medical carts and wall or desk monitor arms for telehealth solutions to wall computer workstations, we move caregivers and patients forward with ergonomic products that improve workflows and drive positive patient experiences. To date, the healthcare sector is the most representative for Ergotron in terms of sales. 

Q: What is Ergotron’s unique value proposition for the healthcare sector?

A: Our industry knowledge helps us to provide the best solutions and our customers appreciate that. Our customers love our products and they also love our service. Our service contracts protect our customers’ IT investment, minimizing downtime and maximizing stakeholder satisfaction. Our service is unmatched.

Moreover, we are an industry leader in quality and safety. Insight-driven industrial design, combined with engineered ergonomics, quality and safety, delivers long-lasting products and peace of mind to customers.

Q: What benefits do your products bring to healthcare providers and patients?

A: Our solutions offer a personalized, ergonomic fit for each user, improving comfort and productivity, whether they are taller, shorter or somewhere in between. In addition, our flexible and versatile products fit a variety of workflows and healthcare environments.

Ergotron’s products undergo extensive testing that exceeds the industry’s most rigid quality expectations. This ensures we deliver professional-grade quality through long-lasting, safe products that our customers can rely on. Furthermore, our nimble carts were designed for uninhibited mobility. Onboard or hot-swap batteries provide long-lasting, dependable power to navigate each shift.

One of our core priorities as a company is to listen to our customers’ feedback, which is reflected in our newest line of healthcare solutions called CareFit. While developing this cart, we did exhaustive ethnographic research. Our team interviewed caregivers at hospitals across the globe and we also observed them as they worked. Our industrial designers watched how nurses interacted with medical carts, peripherals and supplies and the environment around them so that we could truly understand what worked for them, what did not and how we could improve workflows. We are constantly listening to our customers and using that information as we develop new products.

Q: What key characteristics does Ergotron consider when developing products for the healthcare sector?

A: As a company, one of our core values is innovation. We are constantly working on new products to better serve our customers. In healthcare spaces, safety is of the utmost importance and we test our products rigorously to make sure they are safe and built to last. We focus heavily on ergonomics and making products that improve comfort and efficiency. We design our products to be easily customizable with a variety of accessories, to be easy to maneuver and easy to clean. Our goal is to help caregivers thrive so that they spend more of their time and energy doing what they love—caring for their patients—and less time interacting with technology.

Q: What drove Ergotron to develop solutions for telemedicine?

A: Since we make medical carts and wall computer workstations, it made sense for us to include telehealth solutions. Especially now, telehealth is a vitally important part of healthcare and we have been working on these solutions for years. The same features that are important in our medical carts and wall mounts are important for telehealth solutions, including ergonomics, height-adjustability, flexibility, customization and professional-grade quality and safety.

Ergotron sees a future in telemedicine as an access booster for healthcare, especially in countries like Mexico that struggle to deliver healthcare to rural communities.

Q: How have Ergotron’s products been received by the Mexican market?

A: Our products are present in Mexico through distribution channels and although we are new in the market, our solutions have been well-received because health providers understand the value of our thoughtful solutions for caregivers and their workflows. Our top products are medical carts, along with our space-saving wall-mounted solutions.

The private sector has been more receptive to our solutions. However, we are working on bringing this technology to professionals in the public sector.

Q: What are your growth expectations for the Mexican market?

A: We expect to grow 300 percent in FY21. We are confident in this goal as our industrial, education and furniture verticals are also improving and we are dabbling in a new sector: gaming.

For healthcare, we are investing in engineering to develop the next innovative product in the market. We invest significantly in innovation and product development every year.

The world is changing fast and we continue to work to keep up with our customers’ evolving needs. At the beginning of the pandemic, we saw a dramatic rise in the need for medical carts and other workstations and we adjusted and optimized our business operations to oblige. We will continue providing innovative and quality products in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. We will stay focused on what our customers need, both now and into the future.

Ergotron builds ergonomic solutions for healthcare, education and general office environments. Its custom solutions department provides innovative product offerings to companies like Amazon, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Haworth, GE Healthcare and Cisco Systems