2. Medtronic embarks on a major reorganization under its new CEO
Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha [Image courtesy of Medronic]
“The pandemic forced us — in particular with the ventilator work that we were doing — to innovate quickly, because literally lives were on the line and it felt like every minute counted,” Martha said during a recent DeviceTalks Weekly podcast.
Martha found himself slashing through a great deal of corporate bureaucracy to help the ventilator project succeed and decided that the company needed to speed up plans for a major restructuring. Now underway, the restructuring is expected to produce annual savings of $450 million to $475 million by 2023, and Martha has said he’s looking forward to whatever the post-pandemic, new normal brings.
The restructuring includes a new operating model designed to reduce the layers of decision-making, separating into 20 “empowered operating units,” or segments that are given control they didn’t have before.
Martha is also excited about the pipeline of products the company has built in areas as diverse as surgical robotics, leadless pacemakers, renal denervation, neurostimulation and more. He’s said that it is time to play offense and expand market share now that the pipeline is kicking in. – CN
