Coloplast Closes Atlanta Breast Form Plant
To increase efficiency and ensure the Coloplast breast care line will help the Humlebaek, Denmark-based company meet its long-term objectives, Coloplast is restructuring its breast care activities to create a single global business unit geared to increasing market shares in the market for breast forms, specialty textiles, and accessories.
Breast care marketing and sales activities will be concentrated in Atlanta under the direction of Jens E. Stovgaard, president of breast care. However, the development and manufacture of breast forms will be consolidated in Coloplast’s factory in Raubling, Germany, and production in Atlanta will cease by the end of 2002. The 90 persons employed in the Atlanta factory will be laid off.
| HME Insider The Chattanooga Group, Hixon, Tenn, is a leader in turning concepts into ready-to-distribute products. Dealer/Provider spoke to Ed Dunley, director of marketing of Chattanooga about the company and how it goes about developing new products. Q What new products is Chattanooga introducing in the next 4 to 6 months?
A We have a healthy list of new products. We have Opti-Ice™, which is a portable cold-therapy system that circulates cold water around a patients joint or extremity. We have improved and are reintroducing TheraTherm®, which is an electric moist heating pad designed for home use. Also, we are introducing SensaFlex™, a line of combination cold therapy-hot therapy products, and the Hydrocollator® E-1 CHT, a hydrocollator designed for the hand therapist. We have two new 40-inch-wide treatment tables being added to the Adapta® electric high-low table line. We have a new CPM trolley called the OptiFlex® T that allows placement of the OptiFlex CPM in a patient’s bed and helps with CPM storage. We have new line of self-adhesive electrodes and a new portable Intelect® TENS device with S/D mode function. Finally, we have new accessories for our VersaBath™ bathtub transfer system. Q Which of these new products are you the most excited about?
A The Opti-Ice home cold therapy is going to be very synergistic with our CPM providers. It brings a lot of features together as far as digital design and temperature control are concerned. We are also bringing digital design to the TheraTherm, which gives the patient more control and more comfort. The Hydrocollator hand hot pack is very simple, but it will be a great product for the occupational therapy market because it is the only hand-and-wrist hot-pack solution available. Q How many new products will you be introducing in the next year?
A Right now the list is somewhere up in the area of 15. The majority of the new products are not very high-tech but are targeted market solutions for real home care and clinical needs. Q How does Chattanooga research and develop so many products annually?
A Every week we have somebody contacting our company about a new product concept. Our sales and marketing staff spends a significant amount of time in the field working with the distributor and with the end-user. So we are continuously reengineering our products to ensure that they are always performing optimally for every market segment. Once we decide to develop a product idea, we evaluate the market worthiness, its reimbursement, and the manufacturability. This takes time. To take a new product concept from idea to finalization can require as little as 6 to 12 months, or as long as 24 months when you are dealing with electrical interfaces, regulatory approvals and things like that. |
Golden Grabs Another Piece of Lift Chair-Biz
Lift-chair manufacturer Golden Technologies, Old Forge, Pa, is celebrating gaining another piece of the lift-chair market share. On April 4, after 11 months of negotiation, the company acquired the lift chair business of Invacare, Elyria, Ohio.
Both companies declined to disclose the terms of the agreement. However, although the chairs accounted for less than 1% of Invacare’s annual sales, the number of customers Golden may gain is in the thousands, says Bob Smith, vice president of Golden. His company has increased its production capability by 25% to accommodate the anticipated demand.
“Of the three major players that were in the market, we were unquestionably number two and this acquisition certainly sends a very strong message to the entire industry where we are in the marketplace,” he says.
Invacare’s decision to part with its lift-chair line was motivated not by the profitability of the line, but by the company’s desire to focus its marketing and research and development dollars on its core rehabilitation and respiratory products, says Louis F.J. Slangen, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Invacare.
“We are not slowing down, we are accelerating,” he says. “We are taking our product development dollars, which are around $20 million this year, to $60 million in the next 5 years. So we are already spending more money on product development, but it is keyed in on those areas that service our customers best,” he says.
The company’s lift chairs were made by a furniture manufacturer to Invacare’s specifications, so the change will not affect employment at Invacare.
While lift chairs may have been just a side product line for Invacare, for Golden, securing even greater market share in this area should pay off. “We obviously are pleased,” says Richard Golden, chief executive officer of Golden Technologies.
However, the company is not taking the new business for granted, says Smith. It sent out a conversion kit to all Invacare lift-chair customers to help them become familiar with the Golden line. “This business is not going to come to us on a silver platter,” he says. “We have to make sure that each one of their customers understands our line and that we are able to take care of them with exceptional delivery and provide the very best quality that we can.”
Invacare plans to maintain an inventory of its current lift-chair line and will continue to supply parts through the end of 2002, or as long as it takes its customers to convert to Golden Technologies. In addition, Invacare will continue to provide service under existing warranties. The last of the warranties will expire in 2005.
AirSep Gets FDA Clearance to Market “World’s Smallest” O2 Concentrator
It weighs less than 10 pounds, but AirSep Corporation, Buffalo, NY, is expecting big things from its LifeStyle Portable Oxygen Concentrator, which received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration last month.
“There have been significant enhancements but no technological leaps of this magnitude that now allow the patient’s total ambulatory needs to be met,” says AirSep President and COO Joseph L. Priest.
AirSep began shipping the concentrators in April and has also begun to sell the CE-approved medical device overseas. Because AirSep believes the LifeStyle will make patients more mobile and answer many reimbursement problems for high-cylinder-use patients, the company expects initial demand will outpace supply. For more information, contact AirSep at (800) 874-0202 or email marketing@airsep.com.
| In Brief |
- David B. Kaysen, president and CEO of electromedical pain management and rehabilitation product manufacturer Rehabilicare Inc, New Brighton, Minn, resigned effective March 31. Kaysen had been with the company since 1992. John H.P. Maley, chairman of the board of Rehabilicare, assumed the role of acting CEO
 - The board of directors of CHAD Therapeutics Inc, Chatsworth, Calif, has promoted Erika Laskey (right) from director of sales and marketing to vice president of sales and marketing. Laskey joined CHAD in January 2001
- Westmed,Tucson, Ariz, has acquired the assets and ongoing business of Owens-BriGam Medical Company, Morganton, NC. The acquisition expands Westmed’s product scope into both respiratory and anesthesia related care markets. For further information, contact Dean Iwasaki, vice president of marketing, at (303) 783-0011, ext 115
- On June 1 Ferraris Medical is relocating to new facilities in Louisville, Colo. The move will consolidate Ferraris’ companies and provide operating efficiency, the company says
- David J. Kylen, president and CEO of Computer Applications Unlimited Inc, Harrisburg, Pa, retired to pursue his interests in music and multimedia production. Along with CAU’s other founding partners, Kylen was instrumental in the creation and development of Solution/One HME Business Management Systems, the company says. Terrance E. Dinsmore, an original CAU partner and vice president/COO, will replace Kylen
- Otto Bock Health Care, Minneapolis, appointed Sharon Baldauf as its new customer satisfaction manager and John Howard as sales representative for New York City and Long Island
- The American Respiratory Care Foundation (ARCF) is now accepting nominations for the Invacare Award for Excellence in Home Respiratory Care. The award was established in 1992 and consists of $500, a crystal sculpture, and a free trip to AARC’s International Respiratory Congress to be held in Tampa, Fla, on October 5-8. The nomination deadline is May 31. Contact the ARCF at (972) 243-2272 for details
- Thomas R. Miklich, chief financial officer of Invacare Corporation, Elyria, Ohio, has resigned to accept a position as chief financial officer of specialty chemical products manufacturer OM Group Inc, Cleveland. Miklich served as Invacare's chief financial officer and general counsel since 1993
- ResMed Inc, San Diego, has sold its Australian facility at North Ryde in Sydney for approximately $18 million with a 3-year leaseback, and a further 1-year option. ResMed will use the approximately $5.6 million made available from the sale to construct new facilities at NorWest Business Park in Sydney.
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