‘Revolutionary’ national company makes big move to bring business 50 miles north to Northampton
A “revolutionary” national company has made a big move to bring the business more than 50 miles north to Northampton, and its new premises opened at the end of March.
Rodion Liashko has been the operations manager at Globus Medical UK for the past two years, and spoke to the Chronicle & Echo about the positive impact their team hopes this move will have.
“We are the global leader in providing orthopedic surgery solutions and the largest provider of spine surgery solutions in the UK,” said Rodion. “We provide implants and robotics.
“The business was founded in 2003 and has grown fantastically in a crowded sector. The market is growing and so are our solutions. We provide revolutionary instruments, especially in robotics and enabling technology, to offer the best service.
“We improve the quality of surgery with existing instruments through a combination of innovation with commercial acumen, which drives us ahead.”
The UK side of Globus Medical moved from Elstree in Hertfordshire to Northampton in March, with other parts of the business migrating all over the globe. Their new large warehouse on Upper Priory Street is estimated to accommodate everything they need for the next decade.
“Northampton is the centre of logistics,” said Rodion. “It is in the golden logistics triangle in the UK in the Midlands, with access to workforce and warehousing. Our largest customer bases are in London and Birmingham, so this is perfect in the middle.”
Having outgrown the warehouse in Elstree, the team were proud to host their opening ceremony in Northampton on March 23 – attended by Councillor Jane Birch, the 785th Mayor of Northampton.
“People are very happy we have a base from which we can continue supplying our customers and there’s room for expansion,” said Rodion. “The Mayor was interested in how our business can add to the local economy and we’ll be hiring people from the area, which is very positive.”
Rodion explained that Globus Medical is driven by manufacturing in the US, as they implement innovations first and they subsequently spread across the world.
The operations manager is hopeful about expanding their robotics provision. With 13 surgery robots currently operating in the UK, there is hope that more will be introduced and they will expand the line to other parts of the body beyond the spine.
Describing how the process of surgery with the assistance of a robot works, Rodion concluded: “The surgeon has full control over the robotic arms and the precision of the cut is much higher.
“With the spinal cord and its fine blood vessels, the accuracy of the cut by a surgeon is 75 to 80 percent and with a robotic arm it is 98 percent. It doesn’t shake and the modern navigation technology knows exactly where to make a cut.
“This reduces the probability of complications for the patient, the success rate is much higher and the enabling technology means the surgeon does it with help.”