Mexico Health Review spoke with Gerardo Torres-Saptién, Director General of Grupo Rasch on how a clean health care pace can translate into greater quality and cost-efficient services.
Q: How important is pharma in your operations and how have you grown your position in this market?
A: About 85 percent of our business is geared toward pharma and it is the industry that has helped us reach our current market position. First, we introduced process equipment and gradually, demand grew for more diverse products and services. We also realized there was a need to provide our staff with specialized technical training. We have a system of certifications which, besides helping our staff provide a better service, generated loyalty and a sense of commitment among our people. Our goal is to provide a highly professional service, while maintaining a personal and effective connection between our employees and our clients.
Q: Of the different services and equipment you provide, which is most in demand?
A: We were pioneers in Mexico in providing clean rooms as a prefabricated module, which opened a whole new market niche. We design these in Europe through our alliance with Belgium’s Clean Room Consulting Engineering. However, our operations in Mexico are run by Mexican engineers and adapted specifically for Mexican and Latin American clients. We offer packages for clean room solutions with different specifications but all of them have the same level of quality. Our punches division is also an attractive and unique selection in our portfolio.
Q: What opportunities do you see to grow your presence in the market?
A: There are is a big difference between laboratories and hospitals. Mexican laboratories have the highest standards in the world and in fact, Europeans and Americans coming to visit them are often impressed by how advanced they are. The hospital field, however, still faces significant challenges in terms of standardization. Providing good healthcare cannot be just about providing medication and treatment; there needs to be a complete system controlled within a safe environment.
Hospitals in Mexico are regulated but guidelines are not as strict as on the laboratories and many people are still dying from infections. We provide special services to battle biocontamination and prevent this, which could also help hospitals save millions by implementing our system.
Q: How committed has the public sector been in terms of increasing quality in hospitals?
A: Some private hospitals have invested significantly in creating safe working environments but the problem is still considerable in the public sector. The government is focused on increasing accessibility to medication and treatment but it should also invest in making hospitals safer. We are concerned about the distribution of resources in hospitals, especially since there is no door to knock on to offer technological innovation due to misconceived financial priorities.
Q: What are your growth expectations and main goals for 2020?
A: We want to maintain steady growth and to develop our staff’s capabilities. We also want to explore new markets where our solutions can offer an added value. This includes increasing our exports, which are still small. Regarding our other business verticals, there have been limitations in some of them. In the automotive industry, for example, only big companies are investing in new plants at the moment. However, these processes are cyclical and new opportunities will always come up.
Grupo Rasch helps health companies ensure the efficiency of quality management systems. Its services include sales of European machinery, preventive and corrective maintenance, sale of spare parts, clean-room services, maintenance and decontamination of white areas
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