Biomet, Inc. is one of the world leading medical device manufacturer located in the Warsaw, Indiana business cluster.[1] The company specializes in reconstructive products for hips, knees and shoulders, fixation devices, orthopedic support devices, dental implants, spinal implants and operating room supplies.
Biomet was established in 1977 and delivered its first hip replacement in 1978. In a September 2007 club deal the company was acquired by a consortium of private equity firms and ceased trading on NASDAQ.[2]
The four founders of Biomet were: Dane Miller, Ray Harroff, Niles Noblitt, and Jerry Ferguson.
American Gymnast, Mary Lou Retton endorses Biomet, specifically the Oxford Partial Knee.
Established in 1977, Biomet is a family of companies that has enjoyed steady growth at levels exceeding market expansion. Biomet's performance demonstrates a responsive, customer-oriented approach to the health care market. Biomet thrives by strengthening its commitment to innovation and partnership.
Biomet prides itself on its unconventional profile:
the responsiveness and innovation of a small company,
with the resources and market presence of a large company.
Biomet, Inc. and its subsidiaries design, manufacture, and market products used primarily by musculoskeletal medical specialists in both surgical and non-surgical therapy. Biomet’s product portfolio encompasses reconstructive products, including orthopedic joint replacement devices, bone cements and accessories, autologous therapies and dental reconstructive implants; fixation products, including electrical bone growth stimulators, internal and external orthopedic fixation devices, craniomaxillofacial implants and bone substitute materials; spinal products, including spinal stimulation devices, spinal hardware and orthobiologics; and other products, such as arthroscopy products and softgoods and bracing products. Headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, Biomet and its subsidiaries currently distribute products in approximately 90 countries.
Niemier played an early role in developing Biomet's international expansion, which entailed delivering cutting-edge implant products to overseas buyers. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the company expanded into Europe, South America, Japan, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, and other regions. In those countries where Biomet maintained manufacturing facilities, including Germany and England, a direct sales force was established; in other countries it worked through dealer organizations. Niemier benefitted from Biomet's flat organizational structure and decentralized decision-making process. The Berlin Wall had barely fallen, for example, before Biomet acquired what became a successful German orthopedics firm.
Not all of Biomet's international deals played out so nicely, however. When the company received a multi-million-dollar order for trauma products from Iraq in the early 1990s, for instance, Biomet managers were excited. Several months later, though, Iraq invaded Kuwait, providing insight into Iraq's giant order and ending Biomet's dealings with the aggressor nation. Likewise, Biomet invested in several ventures in the Soviet Union during the early 1990s, only to have that market dry up as a result of inner political turmoil. Regardless of minor setbacks, international growth remained a priority for the company going into the mid-1990s. Biomet was operating in about 100 countries by 1992.
Augmenting rising international sales in the late 1980s and early 1990s were continued product and manufacturing innovations that kept Biomet on the leading edge of the industry. In 1989, for example, Biomet technicians began utilizing computer-aided-design (CAD) systems to create three-dimensional images of diseased and damaged joints. When integrated into the production process, the CAD systems allowed Biomet to customize artificial joints for individual patients. The company also became involved in advanced research projects related to bone-growth protein, flexible carbon-fiber implants, and the use of naturally occurring soft tissue to lubricate artificial joints.
By the early 1990s, Biomet's stellar rise had earned the company a reputation on Wall Street as a solid growth stock. In 1992, for example, USA Today listed Biomet as one of 'the hot stocks to watch in the 1990s.' Although the 30 percent growth rate in the company's stock price enjoyed by shareholders during the late 1980s and early 1990s had subsided by 1993, it continued to outperform many of its competitors and was considered a good, long-term purchase by a number of analysts.
Furthermore, Biomet's profit growth continued unabated in the early 1990s and was even accelerating going into the mid-1990s. Sales jumped 22 percent in 1993 to $335 million, and net income ballooned to $64 million. These figures represented five-year compound annual revenue growth of 28 percent in the reconstructive device segment (56 percent of Biomet sales) and 17 percent in the EBI division (25 percent of sales); the remaining revenue was generated from the sale of miscellaneous supplies.
But aside from sales and stock statistics, Miller and the Biomet managed team looked to another, less tangible measure of their company's success--its victories in helping people to lead better lives. 'I believe as we look back 10 years, the evolution of orthopedics has led to the rehabilitation of America,' Miller explained in Indiana Business. 'Ten years ago, if you were incapacitated with a bad knee or hip, you were in bed for the rest of your life.... In the last ten years, the tools and products have been developed to allow ... patients to live a normal life.'
Going into the mid-1990s, Miller and Noblitt were the only Biomet founders left at the company (Ferguson opened a classic car dealership, and Haroff bought a golf course). They and other company leaders had ambitious plans for the future, including development of new high-tech products, aggressive global growth, and diversification into new technologies and markets. In the meantime Biomet's entrepreneurial atmosphere and quick-response management structure would be retained, owing to the success of such technological breakthroughs as the Maxim, a cutting-edge knee implant introduced in 1993, which was expected to significantly boost profits from the fast-growing knee replacement market. In a nutshell, Biomet intended to cling to its reputation as a customer-oriented supplier of leading edge, low-cost, high-performance orthopedic devices.
Despite Biomet's past successes and management's rosy out-look, several impediments to the company's success loomed on the horizon. Chief among them was the impending federal health care reform plan, which could mean many of the products sold by Biomet might become subject to the buying decisions of government regulators. Under the plan proposed by the Clinton administration in 1994, companies like Biomet would have to seek federal approval of new innovations because the government would choose those technologies that could be purchased by health care providers. The effects of reform proposals (as well as increasingly torpid Food and Drug Administration product approvals) were already having a negative impact on Biomet in the early 1990s, as funding for new research and development waned.
On the other hand, demographics boded well for the future success of Biomet and its Warsaw contemporaries. Indeed, the Census Bureau estimated that the number of Americans aged 55 to 74 would leap 42 percent between 1989 and 2010, resulting in massive market growth for Biomet's products. The 75-and-older group will grow even faster. Furthermore, new long-lasting implants will allow surgeons to use Biomet offerings in increasingly younger patients, and for a range of new applications. Overseas demand, moreover, should outstrip domestic growth by a potentially wide margin.
Principal Subsidiaries: EBI Medical Systems.
Biomet Corporate Headquarters:
Biomet, Inc.
56 East Bell Drive
PO Box 587
Warsaw, Indiana
46581-0587
Biomet was established in 1977 and delivered its first hip replacement in 1978. In a September 2007 club deal the company was acquired by a consortium of private equity firms and ceased trading on NASDAQ.[2]
The four founders of Biomet were: Dane Miller, Ray Harroff, Niles Noblitt, and Jerry Ferguson.
American Gymnast, Mary Lou Retton endorses Biomet, specifically the Oxford Partial Knee.
Established in 1977, Biomet is a family of companies that has enjoyed steady growth at levels exceeding market expansion. Biomet's performance demonstrates a responsive, customer-oriented approach to the health care market. Biomet thrives by strengthening its commitment to innovation and partnership.
Biomet prides itself on its unconventional profile:
the responsiveness and innovation of a small company,
with the resources and market presence of a large company.
Biomet, Inc. and its subsidiaries design, manufacture, and market products used primarily by musculoskeletal medical specialists in both surgical and non-surgical therapy. Biomet’s product portfolio encompasses reconstructive products, including orthopedic joint replacement devices, bone cements and accessories, autologous therapies and dental reconstructive implants; fixation products, including electrical bone growth stimulators, internal and external orthopedic fixation devices, craniomaxillofacial implants and bone substitute materials; spinal products, including spinal stimulation devices, spinal hardware and orthobiologics; and other products, such as arthroscopy products and softgoods and bracing products. Headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, Biomet and its subsidiaries currently distribute products in approximately 90 countries.
Niemier played an early role in developing Biomet's international expansion, which entailed delivering cutting-edge implant products to overseas buyers. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the company expanded into Europe, South America, Japan, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, and other regions. In those countries where Biomet maintained manufacturing facilities, including Germany and England, a direct sales force was established; in other countries it worked through dealer organizations. Niemier benefitted from Biomet's flat organizational structure and decentralized decision-making process. The Berlin Wall had barely fallen, for example, before Biomet acquired what became a successful German orthopedics firm.
Not all of Biomet's international deals played out so nicely, however. When the company received a multi-million-dollar order for trauma products from Iraq in the early 1990s, for instance, Biomet managers were excited. Several months later, though, Iraq invaded Kuwait, providing insight into Iraq's giant order and ending Biomet's dealings with the aggressor nation. Likewise, Biomet invested in several ventures in the Soviet Union during the early 1990s, only to have that market dry up as a result of inner political turmoil. Regardless of minor setbacks, international growth remained a priority for the company going into the mid-1990s. Biomet was operating in about 100 countries by 1992.
Augmenting rising international sales in the late 1980s and early 1990s were continued product and manufacturing innovations that kept Biomet on the leading edge of the industry. In 1989, for example, Biomet technicians began utilizing computer-aided-design (CAD) systems to create three-dimensional images of diseased and damaged joints. When integrated into the production process, the CAD systems allowed Biomet to customize artificial joints for individual patients. The company also became involved in advanced research projects related to bone-growth protein, flexible carbon-fiber implants, and the use of naturally occurring soft tissue to lubricate artificial joints.
By the early 1990s, Biomet's stellar rise had earned the company a reputation on Wall Street as a solid growth stock. In 1992, for example, USA Today listed Biomet as one of 'the hot stocks to watch in the 1990s.' Although the 30 percent growth rate in the company's stock price enjoyed by shareholders during the late 1980s and early 1990s had subsided by 1993, it continued to outperform many of its competitors and was considered a good, long-term purchase by a number of analysts.
Furthermore, Biomet's profit growth continued unabated in the early 1990s and was even accelerating going into the mid-1990s. Sales jumped 22 percent in 1993 to $335 million, and net income ballooned to $64 million. These figures represented five-year compound annual revenue growth of 28 percent in the reconstructive device segment (56 percent of Biomet sales) and 17 percent in the EBI division (25 percent of sales); the remaining revenue was generated from the sale of miscellaneous supplies.
But aside from sales and stock statistics, Miller and the Biomet managed team looked to another, less tangible measure of their company's success--its victories in helping people to lead better lives. 'I believe as we look back 10 years, the evolution of orthopedics has led to the rehabilitation of America,' Miller explained in Indiana Business. 'Ten years ago, if you were incapacitated with a bad knee or hip, you were in bed for the rest of your life.... In the last ten years, the tools and products have been developed to allow ... patients to live a normal life.'
Going into the mid-1990s, Miller and Noblitt were the only Biomet founders left at the company (Ferguson opened a classic car dealership, and Haroff bought a golf course). They and other company leaders had ambitious plans for the future, including development of new high-tech products, aggressive global growth, and diversification into new technologies and markets. In the meantime Biomet's entrepreneurial atmosphere and quick-response management structure would be retained, owing to the success of such technological breakthroughs as the Maxim, a cutting-edge knee implant introduced in 1993, which was expected to significantly boost profits from the fast-growing knee replacement market. In a nutshell, Biomet intended to cling to its reputation as a customer-oriented supplier of leading edge, low-cost, high-performance orthopedic devices.
Despite Biomet's past successes and management's rosy out-look, several impediments to the company's success loomed on the horizon. Chief among them was the impending federal health care reform plan, which could mean many of the products sold by Biomet might become subject to the buying decisions of government regulators. Under the plan proposed by the Clinton administration in 1994, companies like Biomet would have to seek federal approval of new innovations because the government would choose those technologies that could be purchased by health care providers. The effects of reform proposals (as well as increasingly torpid Food and Drug Administration product approvals) were already having a negative impact on Biomet in the early 1990s, as funding for new research and development waned.
On the other hand, demographics boded well for the future success of Biomet and its Warsaw contemporaries. Indeed, the Census Bureau estimated that the number of Americans aged 55 to 74 would leap 42 percent between 1989 and 2010, resulting in massive market growth for Biomet's products. The 75-and-older group will grow even faster. Furthermore, new long-lasting implants will allow surgeons to use Biomet offerings in increasingly younger patients, and for a range of new applications. Overseas demand, moreover, should outstrip domestic growth by a potentially wide margin.
Principal Subsidiaries: EBI Medical Systems.
Biomet Corporate Headquarters:
Biomet, Inc.
56 East Bell Drive
PO Box 587
Warsaw, Indiana
46581-0587