Corporate responsibility has been anchored in the Zeiss business mindset since its foundation. Insight examines how its historic principles are living up to its commitments to Australasian employees and the environment in 2022.
Whether it’s electric vehicles, smartphones, diagnostic devices, surgical microscopes or vision-correcting optics, there are few areas of the modern-day human existence that Zeiss doesn’t influence.
The German headquartered group – which has been operating in Australia for more than 60 years – aims to position itself as the innovation leader in every industry it operates, creating a rich company culture that places diversity-of-thought, inclusivity, and sustainability at its core.
Most Australian eyecare professionals would be familiar with Zeiss through its OCT machines, gold standard perimeters and biometers, ophthalmic lenses, intraocular lenses and surgical microscopes, but the company is also enacting change in many other sectors.
“In all fields of our business we make products and services that help people, or help people to help people, and that’s very rewarding,” Mr Rene Hessling, who has a 20-year career with the company and was appointed managing director of Zeiss Australia and New Zealand last October, says.
“For example, we develop analytical instruments used in cancer research or drug discovery and are also integral to advancing the electronics market with our semi-conductor technology. Through our metrology solutions we’re involved in the transformation of the automotive industry to electric vehicles and additive manufacturing which require completely different quality control processes. Our equipment helps medical professionals provide better diagnoses or treatment and in every family there’s someone who’s required a lens for their glasses or to replace their cataract.
“It’s such an interesting place to work because of the positive impact we have in so many areas.”
Today, the Zeiss business is divided into four segments: semiconductor manufacturing technology (SMT), industrial quality and research (IQR), medical technology (ophthalmic devices and microsurgery) and consumer markets (vision care/ophthalmic lenses).
How it competes in various high-tech sectors is largely down to its emphasis on R&D. It aims to lead technological advancements by investing 13% of the group revenue annually in this area. In the most recent fiscal year 2020/21, Zeiss achieved the highest revenue in its long history at €7.5 billion ($AU11.8 b), seeing almost €1 billion (AU$1.58 b) devoted to R&D activities.
As a result, it creates around 450 patents a year, or in other words, 1.2 inventions a day.
“The innovation drive within the company is strong and that in itself makes it exciting. Zeiss is in this interesting position with a strong history dating back 175 years, while at the same time, having to be agile and quick to respond to shape markets with cutting-edge innovations, and that creates a lot of positive momentum within the organisation,” Hessling adds.
Physicist … and a social reformer
The rich history Hessling alludes to can be traced to its founding fathers. While Carl Zeiss started the company in 1846, he famously brought on the physicist Ernst Abbe in 1866 to base production and quality of its products on reproducible scientific principles. Abbe later proved pivotal in creating the Carl Zeiss Foundation as owner of the company to ensure its longevity.
While Abbe was revered for his theoretic groundwork in optical science, he was also known for implementing progressive labour policies for the era. These included an eight-hour workday at a time when most people worked 14, paid sick leave, pension fund – and a discharge compensation fund.
“He was more than a famous physicist and driver of innovation; he was a social reformer. He realised the long-term success of the company depended on the wellbeing of employees,” Hessling explains.
Equality was another principle the progressive Abbe introduced, which meant success of an employee was based solely on their ability and performance, not on their origin, religion, or political views.
“Today, it’s not just about equality, but also diversity. When I think of what takes the company forward, it’s diversity of thought. Zeiss has many employees that have a long tenure within the organisation, which means we have experience in many areas, but we also need people to come in and provide new and different perspectives,” Hessling says.
“And that is why we have a strong emphasis on finding people from different backgrounds and experiences, while providing career progression opportunities by exposing them to other markets, cultures and ways of doing things.”
Ms Elvina D’Cruze is one employee who personifies this approach. Seven years ago, at the age of 33, she joined Zeiss ANZ in Sydney as a senior accountant. Within weeks, she was promoted to finance manager overseeing nine staff. Two years later, she joined the senior leadership team as head of finance, of the ANZ business.
“To have someone who only knew me for a matter of weeks believe in my ability, that was something that stood out,” she says, noting she was initially struck by the long service of many employees.
“As a young manger I felt part of a team and the learnings I took in two years as finance manager, you can’t get that anywhere else because you’re constantly dealing with new projects and systems, while receiving clear direction about where we are heading as a group. Even though there are people with a lot more experience, my ideas are never shut down, you are always encouraged to offer your thoughts.”
Ms Gail Giordani, another long-serving Zeiss employee of 23 years, began her career in her homeland at Zeiss South Africa in 1999 as a member of the microscopy division. In 2014, she was appointed managing director of South Africa, and last year moved to Adelaide to head the ANZ Vision Care business.
“I come from a country with great diversity, but if there is no inclusivity then you don’t harness the aspects of having a diverse team,” she explains.
“We don’t employ people for a job, we employ for a career and that is why you see many people who have stayed for over 20 years. There are so many ways to advance your career, and opportunities aren’t limited to one area of the business, we look at talent across the many business units where people can broaden their experience.”
Social responsibility
Another key driver of the Zeiss business in 2022 is sustainability. Most notably, these include ambitious goals of carbon-neutral energy sourcing by the end of this year and reaching CO2-neutrality in all activities globally by 2025.
“Globally, Zeiss has been able to set such ambitious targets because we started specific programs on energy consumption, waste and the circular economy more than 10 years ago,” Hessling says, noting that one of its foundation principles is operating in a sustainable manner.
These initiatives are well under way in Australia where Zeiss’s state-of-the art Tonsley site in Adelaide will shortly go from 60% to 100% renewable solar power. This is in addition to other initiatives that see reductions in water consumption through dry edging of lenses, the removal of single use plastic from packaging, and 100% recyclable packaging. End-to-end electronic ordering, and integration with optometry practice management systems, has also reduced paper use.
In Sydney, Zeiss has upgraded its ANZ headquarters, moving to a new site last September in Macquarie Park that will source 100% renewable energy. The company is also making use of hybrid working models brought about by COVID, reducing travel, and has reduced paper and printer toner usage, among other initiatives.
The new Sydney premises also has a Customer Centre where clients can test new instruments, seeing how they fit into their workflow. A training lab has been established where people can learn to operate microscopes or perform surgery. Large screens have been installed so local engineers can connect with overseas factory experts for technical training.
“We are taking it a step further with our scientific equipment like electron microscopes by moving into virtual reality (VR)-based training, so our engineers can learn to dismantle this highly complex equipment in a 3D virtual world without having the equipment on site or needing to travel overseas for weeks at a time,” Hessling adds.
Elsewhere in the Australasian business, Zeiss has been focusing on sustainability in another way: the eye health of underprivileged communities. It’s Back-to-Bush initiative, first established in 2005 provides local and visiting ANZ clinicians and surgeons access to functional, state-of-the-art diagnostic and surgical technologies.
This philanthropic work is broken into three areas. The first provides recent model reconditioned Zeiss ophthalmic and ENT equipment to needy centres in outback Australia and Oceania, acquired via trade-in from private and public hospitals against new purchases.
The second element provides ANZ surgeons with access to a portable surgical microscope for on-loan use during good will surgical visits. And thirdly, it donates reconditioned and some new diagnostic devices for charitable services, with the most notable of these being the Lions Outback Vision’s Northwest Hub in Broome.
Through Back-to-Bush, Zeiss has shipped over 100 ophthalmic and ENT surgical microscopes and ophthalmic diagnostic instruments throughout the region, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Solomon Islands, East Timor, PNG, Fiji, Kenya, Philippines, Laos, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Zeiss ANZ head of medical technology Mr Dane Moloney says equipment used in outreach programs can be antiquated, so providing refurbished systems allows people in those areas to receive quality care, while encouraging the visiting surgeons to continue their admirable efforts.
“Sometimes these surgeons also train local doctors while they are there to ensure a more sustainable service. The Back-to-Bush program’s focus is patient care in local regions and training local doctors, whilst supporting ANZ doctors and their ambition to give back to those communities,” he adds.
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