In the 35 years since launching in Belgium, we have built an international business with offices and manufacturing plants in Europe, North Africa, China, Australia, the Middle East and Americas.Our close links with the health institutions we supply go back to 1979, when we produced underpads for Belgium hospitals, clinics and care homes.By the 1980s and 1990s, we had expanded our product range into disposable pants and pads for incontinence, diapers and panty liners and acquired distribution and production facilities across Europe, in the Czech Republic and Turkey.Our first factory outside Europe opened in China in 2006, followed by a manufacturing plant in Algeria.In 2011, we acquired one of Europe&＃39;s biggest disposable hygiene products suppliers, Lille Healthcare and opened plants in Australia, Russia and Pakistan.In Italy, in 2013, we extended our range of incontinence products with the acquisition of the Serenity brands.Our most recent milestone was in June 2014, when Ontex was listed on the Belgium Euronext stock exchange, giving us a strong financial base with which to continue to develop new products, work with customers and seek new markets.The strategic acquirement of Grupo P.I Mabe in 2016 accelerates our transformation. It extends the Ontex platform outside Western Europe and deeper into growth markets.Our valuesOur values have been defined with a large employee involvement through various local workshops.They represent our core strengths and are a guiding compass towards the realization of our strategy and vision. P.R.I.D.E. is the powerful acronym for the five corporate values that define what we stand for at Ontex:PassionWe care: we champion Ontex in everything we do.We work with energy, determination and commitment to be the best in what we do.We believe that what we do matters: we are proud to make a valuable contribution to the comfort of our customers&＃39; lives, to make a difference to people from every generation.ReliabilityWe deliver on expectations.We do what we say we will do.We are trusted to design, produce and deliver high quality products for our customers and consumers and to provide outstanding service.IntegrityWe each take responsibility for doing the right thing.We are committed to the highest standard of behavior and ethics for the business as a whole and as individuals.We treat our customers, suppliers and each other with fairness, honesty and respectDrive for ResultsOnly our best is good enough.We all share a great can-do mentality and we encourage each other in our entrepreneurship.We recognize that each of us must play our part in making Ontex an organization with a high-performance culture.EveryoneWe work together to achieve our shared goals.We are one company worldwide, working collaboratively with each other and our customers and suppliers.Sharing ideas and using our diverse talents, backgrounds and experiences to handle challenging business opportunities makes us a more innovative and successful organization.To best serve our retail and care institution customers and our consumers, with our own brands in Middle East, North Africa, CIS and Russia, who can be significantly impacted by small shifts in trends, economics and population profiles, we operate a large network of locations around the world.This includes 17 manufacturing sites in 14 countries, including Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, Australia, China and Americas.We also have 22 sales and marketing sites allowing us to respond quickly to changes in any part of the world, when it comes to both production and delivery.Our four dedicated research and development centres are a sign of how seriously we take the need to continuously stay ahead when it comes to product design.Wherever we are in the world, our staff use quality raw materials, insight and experience to make sure that Ontex products maintain their reputation for protection