Book of Truth. Part 1. Our Unique 10-Year Warranty

Let’s start our series of articles about the advantages and features of HEINE blades with the company’s unique offer – a 10-year warranty.

Reason No. 1: New, unique 10-year warranty

Anyone who chooses high-quality HEINE blades will have no problems with laryngoscopes for at least the next 10 years.

We firmly believe in the quality of our products. That is why we offer an unmatched 10-year warranty on our HEINE Classic+ F.O. blades. (1)

Simply because we know with what care we manufacture our blades, we assume their average service life is 12 years. However, we are aware of numerous cases from practice where HEINE blades still function perfectly even after 15 or 20 years, despite repeated autoclaving cycles.

And that is not surprising, since stainless steel – the material our blades are made of – is the best we know. The surface coating of the blades is applied in our own electroplating facility. This ensures surface quality that meets our high internal standards while keeping us independent from outside suppliers. The manufacture of HEINE blades combines state-of-the-art CNC machining with meticulous hand finishing. Exclusively in Germany, by highly skilled specialists.

During production we carry out 100% quality control. This means each blade is checked and inspected 51 times, so we ship only flawless instruments.

By the way, in less than 3 years HEINE blades become more cost-effective than "similar" blades from other manufacturers, see also Reason No. 21. Compared to disposable blades, they are already more economical by the end of the first year. If you calculate costs and revenues, you won’t have any repair or service expenses for at least 10 years, see Reason No. 20.

Ecological reasons that clearly speak in favor of reusable instruments we will leave aside for now.

Reason No. 2: 60 years of experience and continuous development

Inventions, ideas, and continuous improvements that benefit our customers and their patients have been on our agenda for 60 years.

Because back in 1961 we manufactured the first HEINE-quality laryngoscopes. And for almost 60 years we have been gaining experience in material selection, processing, and manufacturing, collecting feedback from the market and our customers, and constantly improving our laryngoscopes.

In the past and still today, more than 30 patents and utility models have been registered. This explains the unmatched efficiency and reliability of our blades and handles, as well as the comprehensive 10-year warranty we offer our customers.

The result of this dedication and commitment is today’s HEINE laryngoscopes, unrivaled on the market.

See also Reasons No. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8.

Reason No. 3: The best raw material and its hidden advantages

The fact that a blade breaks during intubation is unfortunately not an exaggeration, but reality. (2) With the HEINE Classic+ blade, this will definitely not happen.

At HEINE, for the manufacture of premium Classic+ laryngoscope blades we use a special high-chromium steel, also known as surgical steel, which is highly resistant to oxidation and is relatively lightweight while remaining strong.

For specialists: this is stainless steel 304 with a tensile strength Rm of about 660 N /mm².

See also the topic "100% reliability of HEINE blades".

Reason No. 4: Careful finishing of the blades

To protect the sensitive mucous membranes of the pharynx, our blades undergo additional smoothing and are inspected several times after metal processing.

In this process the blades are:

• edges and burrs are removed and smoothed,
• blades undergo sandblasting,
  

• polished for many hours with special tumbling stones before entering the coating workshop.

Only then are we satisfied with the safety and smoothness of the surface, see also Reason No. 15.

Only then can a blade carry the HEINE smoothSURFACE quality seal.

See also Reason No. 6.

Reason No. 5: A very special blade coating

Our employees can admire the satin sheen of HEINE blades only for a short time, but thousands of our customers around the world – for many, many years. Mainly because the special blade surface largely eliminates glare and ensures safe intubation. The average service life of a HEINE blade is 12 years, but in practice often much longer. And this despite the fact that our blades – apart from the intubation itself – are treated quite roughly: they are thrown into drawers and water tanks, washed with disinfectants and scrubbed, shaken on metal racks with other instruments, and exposed to high heat. Over and over again.

And yet, we offer a 10-year warranty, see also Reason No. 1. All because we give our blades a unique surface for surgical instruments, unmatched worldwide.

As a base, we apply two layers of nickel, which make the final chrome layer smoother and, above all, more durable. Before chrome plating, we use our HEINE “special layer”, which we keep as secret as Coca-Cola keeps its recipe. This ensures longevity and reliability, and is the hallmark of HEINE smoothSURFACE. Only then is chrome plating applied according to the highest standards.

• 1 - Updated September 2020. Warranty conditions see heine.com.
• 2 - https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfmaude/search.cfm - Code: CCW.