Dräger

Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA

Type	Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien with Aktiengesellschaft as partner with unlimited liability
Traded as	FWB: DRW3, DRW8
Industry	Engineering, medical technology
Founded	1889
Headquarters	Lübeck, Germany
Key people	Stefan Dräger (CEO and chairman of the executive board), Nikolaus Schweickart (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Services	Diving equipment, rebreathers, SCBA, medical ventilators and monitors, anaesthetic machines, neonatal incubators, gas detectors, breathalyzers, drug testing equipment
Revenue	€2.177 billion (2010)[1]
Operating income	€192.8 million (2010)[1]
Profit	€90.7 million (2010)[1]
Total assets	€1.977 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity	€636.6 million (end 2010)[1]
Employees	11,290 (end 2010)[1]
Website	www.draeger.com

The Drägerwerk AG is a German company based in Lübeck which makes breathing and protection equipment, gas detection and analysis systems, and noninvasive patient monitoring technologies. Customers include hospitals, fire departments and diving companies.

History

The company was founded in Lübeck in 1889 as Dräger & Gerling by J. Heinrich Dräger and Carl Adolf Gerling. The first patent was taken out for a reduction device for carbon dioxide in use to tap beer. In 1902 Heinrich Drägers son Bernhard entered the management; from now on the company was named Drägerwerk Heinr. und Bernh. Dräger. Since 1970 the Drägerwerk has been a Plc, in German: Aktiengesellschaft or AG. In 2003 the aerospace division was sold to Cobham plc.

Dräger Medical AG & Co. KG

Dräger Medical is a manufacturer of medical equipment. The Company offers products and services including Emergency Care, Perioperative Care, Critical Care, Perinatal Care and Home Care. With headquarters in Lübeck, Germany, Dräger Medical employs nearly 6,000 people worldwide^{[citation needed]}, around half of whom work in customer sales & services. R&D and production are located in Lübeck, Germany; Best, Netherlands; Richmond Hill, ON, Canada; Telford, PA, and Andover, MA, USA; and Shanghai, China. The Company has sales and service subsidiaries in almost 50 countries and is represented in more than 190 countries^{[citation needed]}. In fiscal year (= calendar year) 2005, the Company increased its net sales by around 8.1 % to reach € 1,106.4 million and posted an operative EBIT of € 100.7 million^{[citation needed]}. Dräger Medical has outpaced the market with a long-term average growth rate of around 8% per year. The Company increased its EBIT from € 9.1 million in 2000 to € 100.7 million in 2005, marking the first five years of its business turn-around.^{[citation needed]}

Dräger Safety AG & Co. KGaA

Dräger Safety AG & Co. KGaA a manufacturers of personal protection and gas detection technology, and a supplier of safety systems for industry, fire prevention, mining and other hazardous areas.^{[citation needed]}. The products and services from Dräger Safety warn and protect people from airborne pollutants and enable people to breathe reliably even in extreme situations.

Dräger claims to have longstanding experience, especially in the fields of gas management, gas flow control, gas monitoring and gas measurement. The current product range encompasses respiratory protective equipment for firefighters, miners and other industrial personnel as well as complete air filter and air supply systems, portable and fixed gas detection and warning systems, devices for on-site or laboratory contaminant analysis, and instruments to determine a person's breath-alcohol concentration.

Dräger combines the practical use of equipment with, for example, consultancy services, training, maintenance, service and commissioning. Represented in over 100 countries, the company has 40 subsidiaries and, with its 3,600 employees, achieved global sales of € 557.8 million in 2005 (EBIT: € 40,7 million)^{[citation needed]}. Dräger Safety operates production plants in Germany, Great Britain, USA, Sweden, South Africa and China.

Dräger Safety faces heavy competition from other manufacturers of safety equipment such as Sensidyne, Inc.

In State v.Chun (Supreme Court of New Jersey A-96-06, Docket No. 58,879), a third-party analysis of the software behind the Dräger AlcoTest 7110 MkIII-C breathalyzer found "19,400 potential errors in the code", including incorrect averaging of results, loss of precision, disabled error detection, and substitution of arbitrary values for out-of-range measurements.^[2]

In New Jersey (USA), the state Supreme Court remanded the matter to a Special Master to develop a record, conduct hearings, and report his findings and conclusions regarding the scientific reliability of the Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C. Having received the report of the Special Master, the Court concluded: "We are confident, based on this far-reaching and searching inquiry, that the device is sufficiently reliable so that the rights of all defendants have been protected. We are satisfied that, with the directions we here adopt for pending and future matters, the confrontation rights of all defendants have been, and will continue to be, protected. We have no doubt that the device, with the safeguards we have required, is sufficiently scientifically reliable that its reports may be admitted in evidence. And we are confident that, in so concluding, all of defendants' rights have been advanced and considered." See State of New Jersey v. Chun et al., 194 N.J. 54, 943 A.2d 114, at 148-149 (N.J. Sup. Ct. 2008), cert. denied, 129 S.Ct. 158 (U.S.N.J. Oct 06, 2008).

Diving equipment

Two cylinders hand pump (presented on picture without handles) made for divers in standard diving dress by "Drägerwerk AG"

In 1912 the Drägerwerk had developed a standard diving dress without an umbilical. Air supply came from a rebreather.

Since 1941 Hans Hass used bag-on-back rebreathers originally built by Dräger for self-rescue of submarine crews (Tauchretter, like the Davis Escape Set). The first Dräger-Tauchretter had been built in 1907. In 1926 the Bade-Tauchretter was brought into action for rescuing drowned swimmers.^[3]

They make the popular Atlantis, Ray and Dolphin line of sport diving semi-closed-circuit nitrox rebreathers.

They make the LAR-5 and LAR-6 military oxygen rebreathers, and LAV-7 military rebreather (switchable between closed-circuit and semi-closed-circuit)^[4]: images.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Annual Report 2010". Dräger. http://draeger.com/media/50/00/09/50000918/110315_annual_report_2010.pdf. Retrieved 2 April 2011. 
2. ^ http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/pressrel/supplemental_opinion.pdf
3. ^ Quick, D. (1970). "A History Of Closed Circuit Oxygen Underwater Breathing Apparatus". Royal Australian Navy, School of Underwater Medicine. RANSUM-1-70. http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4960. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
4. ^ Goble, Steve (2003). "Rebreathers". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal 33 (2): 98–102. http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/7782. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 

External links

• Official website