Computer outage disrupts Medtronic's operations

Medtronic employees are working extra hours to deal with a global computer outage that has affected the medical device company's ability to manufacture devices and fulfill orders from customers.

A Medtronic spokesman said via e-mail Thursday that "our fundamental system has been restored" and the company is bringing the system back online Thursday morning. The company said it became aware of the issue earlier this week.

"We are still evaluating the impact of this disruption and are focused on fully restoring our systems," spokesman Fernando Vivanco wrote. "Once that is completed we will be in a better position to evaluate any potential impact on our financial results. At this time, we do not believe there will be a material impact to our first quarter [fiscal year] 2018 revenue and earnings per share as a result of this disruption, but we continue to monitor and assess the matter."

A letter to employees from Medtronic Chief Executive Omar Ishrak earlier this week said the company was dealing with a "temporary global outage of our foundational information technology systems" — which are critical to manufacturing products and fulfilling orders for medical devices from hospitals and doctors around the world.

"This issue is caused by an internal technical matter to Medtronic, and we have no indication that an outside agent is involved and no indication of data exposure," says Ishrak's e-mail, which was obtained by the Star Tribune. "We are working with our IT vendors around the clock to restore these systems and resume normal operations.

Vivanco's e-mail noted the company is continuing to monitor the cause of the outage.

Ishrak's letter says many employees would be asked to take on extra shifts and hours and to accommodate customer needs, and company executives are working to ensure that customer and patient needs are met.

"Contingency plans were implemented to ensure that critical patient orders continue uninterrupted. There may, however, be some delays in the near term as we work to fulfill all customer requests," Vivanco wrote. "Our teams are working around the clock, along with support from our external information technology partners to minimize the effects of this temporary system outage."

Medtronic, which has about 85,000 employees and $30 billion in annual revenue, uses a centralized worldwide information management system sold by SAP. Medtronic is featured with its own "customer snapshot" on the SAP website.

Joe Carlson • 612-673-4779