Medline means a lot of things to a lot of people in and around healthcare: High-quality products and solutions at the right value. Superior supply chain resiliency. Tireless problem-solving. Continuous improvements for customers that come from listening closely to their needs, concerns and product preferences.

But for years, Matt Nuytten’s team of more than 100 in North Mankato, Minn., saw Medline as something else — its biggest rival.

“You’re always trained to fight against your competitor,” said Nuytten (pictured, left), who came to work for Coloplast in 2003 at its 108,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in the heart of town and became the facility’s director of operations four years later — the role he still holds there today. “You’re very passionate about your brand.”

So are clinicians around the country who swear by legacy Coloplast skin care products — the Sween 24 line of creams and moisturizers, the moisture-barrier ointment Critic-Aid and an assortment of Atrac-tain creams, lotions and foams, to name a few. Denmark-based Coloplast acquired the North Mankato plant from local manufacturer Sween Corp. in 1995 and relied on it to manufacture the bulk of its skin health portfolio for nearly 30 years.

That changed in 2024, when Medline completed its acquisition of Coloplast’s skin care business. Before Nuytten and product development manager Keenan Deutsch knew it, they were talking strategy as the newest members of the Medline team.

Quite a shift, huh?

“It’s a very unique situation,” said Deutsch (pictured, right). “Medline’s Remedy products had been positioned against the products we make here. When you have two organizations that have been competing against each other directly for years, and in this case a couple of decades, getting integrated is a special experience.”

Best of both worlds

Once the plant and its employees officially became part of Medline in February 2025, the challenge was on: How to best marry two beloved skin care portfolios in ways that wouldn’t leave Coloplast loyalists feeling abandoned?

Extensive product reviews were conducted. Strengths and differences were examined. Customers were consulted.

“In the end, our goal is to have the absolute best-in-class skin care portfolio for healthcare, and to have all of it under the Remedy brand to make it easy for customers who may have bought both Coloplast and Remedy products in the past,” said Noah Garber (pictured), general manager for Remedy and Medline’s Readycare division. “When we spoke with customers, many expressed a clear preference for us to maintain the core products from Coloplast’s range.”

Overall, the consensus is that those products — now fully owned by Medline but continuing to bear the Coloplast name until late 2026 — are largely complementary, not duplicative, because they have simpler formulations with fewer ingredients. That often makes them a more fitting choice when allergens are a concern or when a patient has a specific skin state condition.

“Ultimately,” Deutsch said, “the result of our portfolio reviews and conversations with Coloplast customers was deciding to include what I would call the ‘dream team’ of legacy Coloplast skin care products under Remedy to maintain continuity in the market.”

Clinicians who depend on these products need not worry about confusion or unexpected surprises. The existing Coloplast product names — Sween 24, Critic-Aid, Atrac-tain, etc. — are not changing, Garber said. Neither are their formulations.

This year, they’re even getting their own Remedy subcategory, “Simplified,” as high-performing, simpler alternatives to Remedy’s “Clinical” line.

“I think the biggest advantages that North Mankato offers us are additional capacity and a domestic source where we have some insulation from some global supply chain challenges,” said Lauren Kehoe (pictured), director of strategic sourcing for Remedy and ReadyCare. “The fact that we have ownership control and the agility to do it within our own plant is really valuable for our skin care customers.”

It also could mean expanding skin care solutions in entirely new directions.

“As we look toward the future, we want to think about how we can better enable proper skin care through new technologies and new approaches,” Garber said. “The R&D team that Keenan leads is a critical resource to help us do that. That’s a ton of value we didn’t have before this acquisition.”

Deutsch is all for it.

“That’s something we’ve really been pushing and working with our new colleagues on: How can we improve the existing products, and how can we bring something completely new to this portfolio?” he said. “We’ve had a lot of rich conversation there.”