Mrs Bonny, you are currently the CEO of Deppeler, how long have you been with the company?
I joined the business in 1996 working alongside Arnold Deppeler. We collaborated for 10 years before I took over the company, together with my husband who joined the firm back in 1999.
What are the advantages of being a family run business?
In my opinion, the main advantage is the flexibility and responsiveness we are able to offer our customers. It means that we can develop new products in record time. Also, the fact that each person undertakes a wide variety of tasks makes everyone’s job much more interesting.
Lastly, in a business such as ours the working atmosphere is completely different. Each individual is recognised and valued for his abilities and everyone is aware of the contribution his work makes to the organisation as a whole. Personally, I don’t think I could work in any other way. It’s something that feels totally natural to me and I couldn’t bear to treat people as if they were merely numbers on an organisation chart.
What are the biggest changes the company has faced of the last decade?
So many things have happened in 10 years, it’s difficult to summarise. But the most important milestones for the company were probably:
λ Gaining ISO 13485 certification and all the attendant organisational changes.
λ Changing our management structure and leadership style.
λ Relocating our production facilities to Minergie-compliant buildings that meet Swiss environmental- sustainability standards.
λ Recruiting the people we needed to move forward in our development projects.
λ Creating many new product lines including our latest innovation, the Deppeler Smart Scaling system.
Deppeler claims to be the benchmark for quality, how is this status maintained?
I consider it part of my everyday responsibilities to oversee the quality of the instruments produced in our workshops. We work according to the best Swiss manufacturing traditions and our instruments are 100 per cent made in Switzerland. This is something on which we are not prepared to compromise. Our rigorous production methods are comparable to those in the Swiss watch-making industry and our guiding principle is that every item must be perfect because each will be held in the hands of a dental practitioner and used inside a patient’s mouth. There is absolutely no room for error. To achieve our goals, we work to very strict manufacturing tolerances and employ a policy of total quality control.
What exactly is the Deppeler Smart Scaling System?
The system comprises two universal curettes that can be used to treat all types of periodontal pockets. We started from two observations:
λ The Gracey range of curettes has become too extensive and too complex.
λ Practitioners measure pocket depth using a periodontal probe, but do not take the measurement into account during treatment.
Our aim, therefore, was to reduce the kit to its absolute minimum, while still guaranteeing the highest standards of treatment safety. To achieve this objective, we completely redesigned the angles of the curette in order to penetrate the pocket more easily and avoid damaging healthy tissue. The geometry of the blade was also remodelled.
We added a graduated scale on the working end of the curette to allow accurate measurements during treatment. It replicates the exact measurement scale of the periodontal probe and thus ensures that the practitioner is working at the correct depth. It seems so obvious, but someone still had to design and create it.
What difference will it make to a dentist’s working life?
There are numerous benefits for dental practitioners. First of all, the measurement scale provides an unprecedented level of patient safety. Normally, the dentist relies on his sense of touch to determine if he is at the correct depth, but now he can see it too. This makes it a safer and much more pleasant experience.
Another advantage is that instrument reprocessing is made considerably simpler. In all dental practices you will find conventional Gracey curettes, mini and long versions, and so on. All the instruments tend to get mixed up and the correct one is never readily to hand. However, with Deppeler Smart Scaling that’s no longer a problem. The practitioner needs just two instruments for everything, and in the long-term, having to buy only two curettes offers an obvious financial advantage.
How long did the creation of this system take?
We spent six months in the product development phase before creating the first test samples. This was followed by several months of testing before we finally decided to go into commercial production. In total, development took more or less an entire year.
The system was showcased this year at the Dentistry Show and IDS, what sort of reaction did it receive from dental professionals?
I am especially pleased with the way the launch went. I can honestly say that nearly all the dental surgeons and hygienists to whom we demonstrated the instruments were won over by the concept, so much so that they purchased it there and then. It is certainly the most ground-breaking innovation we have seen in the hand-held dental instrument market for a very long time. I think everyone was waiting for it to come along without necessarily being able to say exactly what it was they were waiting for.
What do you think are the most important factors to dentists when considering purchases?
In my opinion, the first consideration for any practitioner is the standard of precision he requires for his work. Next, he takes into account the relative merits of one brand over another in terms of their reputation for quality. Finally, price is a fundamental factor in the decision.
When I first started in the dental sector, the purchase decision process was largely based on these criteria. However, in recent years, trends have changed and today dentists are much more concerned about value for money. Many have placed unquestioning faith in one particular brand or another only to be disappointed or have their loyalty exploited. They are looking for genuine quality but, naturally, they don’t want to pay four times as much for it. At Deppeler not only can practitioners find value for money, they also benefit from the professional support of an experienced manufacturer.
What other innovations will Deppeler be bringing to the UK market in the near future?
Based on our expertise in steel, we have put together a number of training initiatives in this area which we would like to offer to the UK market. The first sessions in Switzerland, Germany and Canada have been very encouraging.
By nature, I am never satisfied and I continue to work with my team on a daily basis to develop new ideas and improve existing products. To this end, I try to observe as many dental procedures as I can in order to understand the causes of workplace discomfort and identify what more I could do to alleviate it. Our product development schedule is full and Deppeler will soon be unveiling more innovations, particularly in the field of periodontal surgery.