METHODS USED IN THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY BOOST HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY

Health care technology is a strongly growing industry and its importance is constantly increasing. The product spectrum is broad, ranging from rings that track sleep and recovery to medicine dispenser robots, and from hospital and care equipment to remote medical services. The total exports of the Finnish health care technology sector are growing continuously and amounted to EUR 2.43 billion in 2020.

Founded in Oulu in 2010, Ginolis forms a part of the Finnish health care industry. The company designs and delivers automation lines for its customers that manufacture diagnostic rapid tests and medical equipment.

SCALING UP WITH AUTOMATION

The company’s founder and CEO Teijo Fabritius has spent the whole of his long career working in robotics, automation and business development at Nokia Robotics and JOT Automation, for example. In 2010, the time was ripe to found his own company.

– I had been following the development of health care and wellbeing technology for a long time. When I became acquainted with companies that manufactured diagnostic tests, I discovered that the production was manual – nothing like what I was used to
in the electronics industry. I expressed my thoughts about scaling production with the help of automation, and the idea caught on immediately. We started developing the product and introduced an entirely new kind of operator to the industry. Even today we still don’t really have any competitors, Teijo Fabritius says.

Demand was certainly strong: Ginolis has doubled its net sales annually. The greatest volume is from abroad, and sales within Finland are also mainly focused on international players.

Ginolis’s products help companies in the industry to implement solutions that speed up diagnosis. As reliability improves, many basic samples can be taken with rapid tests at health care centers or at home without the need for separate laboratory visits. The test results are obtained quickly, in a matter of a few days or even minutes. As a result of the pandemic, the speed of testing has become an increasingly important factor.

In addition to rapid diagnosis, Ginolis manufactures health care technology products such as insulin pump assembly automation solutions and more complicated tests that require measurement of liquids.

The company’s automation lines employ high technology that is used in the electronics industry’s assembly processes. The lines are tailor-made from cost-effective modules that can easily be expanded while also increasing production capacity.

In addition to efficiency, Ginolis has focused on recognizability.
– From the beginning, we paid attention to the visual appearance of the equipment and the entire company. We have customers who have placed the Ginolis line behind a glass wall at their production facility so visitors can see how smart the production facility looks, Fabritius says.

BUILDING NETWORKS AND DISCOVERING PARTNERSHIPS

In the spring of 2020, Ginolis became part of the Swedish BICO Group.
– Our previous main shareholder was no longer able to sufficiently
invest in and support our growth, so we started to look for other solutions. Luckily, we found a stronger owner base, and we are now better prepared to react to our customers’ needs. Through the Group, our know-how is also reinforced, Fabritius says.

One of the factors restricting Ginolis’s growth has been production
capacity.
– Our strategy is to outsource the production of standard products to a partner when the product is at a sufficiently high level of completion. The product in question is a technically challenging product that includes control technology and precision mechanics. Its assembly requires careful work and diverse know-how. Arnon has internalized our needs quickly and is able to produce complete solutions for us, which can be delivered directly from Arnon to the customer, Fabritius says contentedly.

Building networks and discovering partnerships is indeed one of
Fabritius’s strengths.
– Our success is founded on our resolute belief in our vision, and on a network that enables this vision to be made into a reality.