Haag-Streit Group
The Haag-Streit Group, headquartered in Koeniz near Bern, is an internationally operating Swiss medical device company in the field of eye care. The group develops, manufactures and globally distributes cutting-edge solutions and medical devices including slit lamps, tonometers, chairs and stands for the refractive workplace, as well as biometers, perimeters, surgical microscopes and further accessories. The Haag-Streit Group also offers virtual reality-based solutions and simulators for medical education. For more than 160 years, Haag-Streit has been working closely with well-respected scientists and physicians worldwide. According to the principle:” Look closer, see further”, we work with attention to detail to develop and produce innovative and progressive comprehensive solutions of highest quality for eye care specialists.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Manufacturer
- Industry Type:
- Medical Equipment
- Market Focus:
- Globally (various continents)
- Year Founded:
- 1898
Advantages
Look closer. See further.
For over 160 years, Haag-Streit has led the way in creative technology for ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. Our slit lamps, surgical microscopes, and medical equipment set the standard for precision, efficiency, and accuracy on the market, giving physicians the tools they need to provide the best patient care.
Creative Technology
Providing high-performance solutions for the digital age
Our design, development, and production teams are 100% committed to making the best products in the world.
High-precision mechanical systems and optics are the cornerstones of the superior performance we deliver. We combine computer systems and software to integrate imaging, electronic medical records, and automated processing into our products.
Flexibility and Durability
Diagnostic, surgical, and medical equipment that lasts
We strive to not only offer our customers the best performing products, but the flexibility of modular systems, which can be updated or upgraded as technology develops. As the pace of technology innovation has accelerated, we have developed new products that grow with you instead of being constantly outdated.
We deliver doctor-inspired form and function through products that enable the best possible patient care and cost effectiveness for medical practices. Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, and Opticians worldwide know this and value their Haag-Streit products for a lifetime of service.
Our Core Values
Committed to making the best products in the world
Because of our traditional values of trust, precision, and transformation, we have delivered cutting-edge innovation for the medical instrument and equipment industry for over 160 years.
Tradition: Upholding industry excellence
At Haag-Streit Group, tradition means taking long-term views for trustworthy thinking and acting. This thinking permeates our culture, and is the key to our leadership longevity and broad-market success at developing, producing, and distributing the finest precision medical instruments, tools and equipment on the market.
Trust: Upholding continuity through direct experience
In our more than 160 years of market leadership, we have developed a continuity of trust among our customers, direct distributors, and expert organizational development and manufacturing staff. This trust, and the direct experience customers have with product quality and longevity—as well as the support they receive from our experts who live out our values—we have been able to set standards and dominate the market.
Precision: Key to upholding fine artistry with cutting-edge technology
We combine artistry and the finest new technologies to create unique medical field products. We are continually researching, exchanging information, and listening to customers, experts and other scientists to refine our products. Our accuracy is calibrated within millionths-of-an-inch. This precision is artfully balanced against the comfort, sturdiness, and stylish appearance of our products.
Transformation: Anticipating change
Our history of success pivots around flexible approaches to change. We harness innovative development of medical and technological breakthroughs to deliver methods, instruments, equipment, and services that serve the intensely specific needs of every customer.
Our History
Three generations of innovation and collaboration
Haag-Streit Group started in the city of Bern, Switzerland in 1858. The legacy of tradition and innovation began by combining the talents of two precision mechanics: F. Herman and H. Studer.
These clever entrepreneurs began their careers by manufacturing and supplying meteorologic measurement instruments to the observatory and weather station in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The next big break came when they realized the market for precision mechanics included ophthalmology. They began designing instruments with Dr. Hans Goldmann, who taught at the University of Bern.
It began with instruments for ophthalmologists
Together, the three men began creating precision instruments to aide examination techniques for ophthalmologists. These instrument designs remain the basis for instruments in use today.
By 1965, Haag-Streit International recognized a need to establish an American market subsidiary, and opened the first US office in New Jersey. In the early 70s, we acquired a supplier to better secure the high quality optics required for the integral slit lamp design and other mass-produced products.
To this day, the slit lamp manufactured by Haag-Streit Group is considered the finest in the world.
Global expansion and market leadership
Haag-Streit created completed product ranges for medical professionals across the US and Europe, with a focus on supplying universities.
Further acquisitions followed to complete the product range for medical professionals and improve access to the US market—especially instrument and medical equipment supply delivery.
For more information on our companies worldwide, please click the button below.
The acquisition of Reliance Medical Products
Haag-Streit Group acquired Reliance Medical Products in 1988. With four distribution units in Europe and the US, Reliance rounded out our offerings into the medical supply industry, bolstering our market leadership. Today, products and supplies are delivered to 80 countries.
Reliance revolutionized the hydraulic lift using a primary lever, and continues to deliver the highest quality products. Treatment chairs made in the 1940s are still in use today. The innovative hydraulic lift required only one lever for raising, lowering, revolving, or locking the chair. The Reliance chair was so famous even the barber on The Andy Griffith Show, Floyd, owned one.