Posts from — October 2005

In the last few days two (at least) interesting things have happened in the home healthcare industry. People even remotely close to the industry know that by watching the activities of Sunrise Medical and Invacare Corporation - aggressive competitors and both leaders in their own right, you can understand a lot about what is going on.

This is why when I heard that Sunrise Medical was acquiring Lomax Mobility in the United Kingdom and read the latest quarterly press release from Invacare - well, I had to stop and think.

Please understand that I am not making a judgment its just that in so doing Sunrise is adding manufacturing capacity by acquiring a company with 200 employees in the UK while Invacare has announced that it is reviewing its global manufacturing and distribution strategy and hopes to save $21 million pre tax annualized. Maybe the UK is not part of the plan.

Of course in addition to the manufacturing operations Sunrise is getting a much bigger share of the UK NHS market. Sunrise has a very bright global management team so this decision would not have been taken lightly.

It seems that while cost is a huge industry driver today some of the additional thoughts in a previous post concerning adding value and channel management are still right there.

Invacare had bought its way into the NHS in the mid 1990’s through its Bencraft acquisition. In April of this year Invacare made their own acquisition in the UK of a value added seating company.

Which ever way you look at this Sunrise Medical has made a bold step in the UK and has picked up a large share of the biggest customer.

As with most acquisitions today - the challenge is going to be in the execution, especially as Lomax will be run separately according to sources.

This is not the last we have heard of this.

MedXSA is an international export marketing group representing a number of different Medical Device companies in South Africa. We are actively looking for suitable distribution partners for our clients in many international markets. Our products are mostly produced in South Africa and consequently enjoy a high quality standard and a degree of price competitiveness when compared to other international products. This together with in many instances some very innovative features, should make them very profitable to the right in-market partners. Our products include amongst others coronary stents, surgical implants, surgical gowns and drapes, ECG and Spirometry diagnostic systems, visual field screener, sterotactic system and a powdered emergency oxygen system.

A complete list of products can be found on our website � www.medxsa.com.

Contact can be made through the website or the partners Keith Schlagbauer or John Kabalin or if you would prefer contact the editor@sibaya.com in confidence

Specialty Medical Device Distributor in Eastern Europe seeks partners wishing to distribute their value added products in this region.

Distributor has operations serving Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia Montenegro, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Company principals have employment record at major US medical device manufacturers in addition to having clinicians on their staff.

The company�s expertise is in working with key opinion leaders and decision makers in the region. Having 20 years experience the company has considerable contacts in the healthcare industry.

Product expertise is the value added sales and marketing of cardiovascular, general surgery, orthopedics and gynecology products.

Because distributor uses a value added process they can only consider exclusive distribution agreements.

Contact Frank Barlin at Sibaya Healthcare in the first instance.

Sibaya China Joint Venture

Aluminum Manufacture Extrusions, Parts, Assemblies

• Company founded in 1960
• ISO 9001:2000 Certified
• 5 Extrusion machines from 690 - 2100 tons
• Fully integrated mold manufacture, CNC milling, bending, punching capability
• Served industries, industrial, construction, healthcare mobility, bicycle frames, electronic, various parts all industries
• International specifications for Aluminum

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