Zimmer Biomet CEO Bryan Hanson has been on a mission to improve company culture since taking the reins last year, and continues to focus on the cultural integration of Zimmer and Biomet, which officially merged in 2015.
He has spent the past few months discussing the company's workflow and roadblocks, gaining clarity on inefficiencies and what the organization needs to improve. Additionally, the company's Warsaw North Campus has been the subject of FDA inspections to gauge progress on requested improvements. The most recent inspection concluded earlier this week and the company maintains quality remediation efforts.
Here are four key quotes from Mr. Hanson's first quarter conference call, according t oa transcript in Seeking Alpha.
1. On organizational growth: "Based on all the input I've received over the past four months, it's clear to me that Zimmer Biomet is well positioned to move back into a positive market share growth. That said, it's also clear to me that this will likely be a two-year turnaround. As an organization, we will define success in this process by consistently delivering topline growth at market rates or better with the ability to expand margins and commensurate with that growth rate. We believe our end markets are currently growing at approximately 3 percent."
2. On FDA inspection of the Warsaw North Campus: "This latest inspection confirmed that quality remediation progress has been made, but we still have work to complete, and we're obviously not satisfied with the current state of our quality system at Warsaw North facility. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix, but our team is working tirelessly to make the necessary improvements."
3. On FDA clearance for ROSA robotic brain application: "This clearance represents the first in a series of regulatory and commercial milestones in the roll out of the ROSA robotics portfolio, including a total knee application we plan to introduce via a limited launch by the end of the year."
4. On sales decline: "Broadly speaking, I want to emphasize that although we are currently seeing negative year-over-year sales growth, we do expect to accelerate our topline performance to market growth rates or better over the next 18 to 24 months. We will continue taking the necessary actions to close our gap to market and drive sustained shareholder value."