SALES, MARKETING, AND LOGISTICS

Long-term, mutually trusting cooperation with our customers is an essential basis for sustainable growth. We strive to guarantee top quality and outstanding service to our customers, together with reliable logistics and product availability. Thanks to its broad product portfolio and long experience, Fresenius has been able to build and maintain close relationships with its customers worldwide. Close cooperation between sales and research&development divisions enables the company to integrate concepts and ideas generated by the sales force with respect to product development. Fresenius has its own sales organizations with trained sales personnel. The sales teams coordinate direct sales promotion measures, including visits to doctors, medical specialists, hospitals, and specialist clinics. The company also employs distributors in countries where we do not have our own sales team.

Fresenius’ products are shipped by the production plants to central warehouses, generally located not far from the production sites. These central warehouses dispatch the products to regional warehouses, which then distribute them to the clinics and other customers, or directly to a patient’s home. The business segments offer after-sales services, training in the local language, technical support, servicing, and maintenance and warranty arrangements in every country in which Fresenius sells its products. Product training is also provided at the company’s production sites. Regional service centers are responsible for day-to-day international service support.

The business segments have the following customer structure:

Dialysis clinics and hospitals are Fresenius Medical Care’s main customers for its products business. In dialysis care, approximately 35% of Fresenius Medical Care’s revenues are derived from the U.S. government’s Medicare/Medicaid programs, with about 65% from hospitals and private and other health care payors.