More San Diego Companies Are Competing on Global Stage
San Diego Business Journal article
May 12, 2008 -- By Mike Allen, San Diego Business Journal Staff
Despite competing with the world’s largest medical device makers, Carlsbad-based Timely Medical Innovations is becoming so successful that it’s selling products to those same manufacturers.
“What we do is low-cost, disposable medical products, and at a high volume. But we’ve been able to manufacture quickly and manage our supply chain effectively. Some of the biggest medical device manufacturers in the world, such as Cardinal Health and Kimberly-Clark, buy our products,” said Michael Grad, TMI president and ceo.
TMI makes disposable protective devices worn by health care providers to protect them from infection from blood spattering or other sources.
Founded in 1991, the company has only six employees, and has products made by several small manufacturers in the county.
While Grad would not reveal sales, or profits, he said sales in 2007 increased 20 percent above sales in the prior year. Most gains came from new distribution agreements signed last year that opened up markets in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
TMI exports to about 17 countries.
Grad is quick to give some of the credit for TMI’s success to the U.S. Commercial Services, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which helped the company gain access to an industry trade fair in Germany.
Distributor Agreements Signed
As a result, TMI signed four distributor agreements, with six pending, Grad said. TMI’s story is indicative of what’s been happening at many U.S. companies, said a federal trade official who presented Grad with an award earlier this month.
Israel Hernandez, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and director general of the department’s U.S. Commercial Service, said companies from small to large are finding similar success in international markets in recent years.
By spotlighting a local company helped by the Commercial Service, it inspires other businesses to undertake similar steps, Hernandez said.
“The main message that we’re sending is that if you can do business here in the United States, you can certainly do business overseas,” he said.
SDBJ Article
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San Diego Business Journal article
May 12, 2008 -- By Mike Allen, San Diego Business Journal Staff
Despite competing with the world’s largest medical device makers, Carlsbad-based Timely Medical Innovations is becoming so successful that it’s selling products to those same manufacturers.
“What we do is low-cost, disposable medical products, and at a high volume. But we’ve been able to manufacture quickly and manage our supply chain effectively. Some of the biggest medical device manufacturers in the world, such as Cardinal Health and Kimberly-Clark, buy our products,” said Michael Grad, TMI president and ceo.
TMI makes disposable protective devices worn by health care providers to protect them from infection from blood spattering or other sources.
Founded in 1991, the company has only six employees, and has products made by several small manufacturers in the county.
While Grad would not reveal sales, or profits, he said sales in 2007 increased 20 percent above sales in the prior year. Most gains came from new distribution agreements signed last year that opened up markets in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
TMI exports to about 17 countries.
Grad is quick to give some of the credit for TMI’s success to the U.S. Commercial Services, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which helped the company gain access to an industry trade fair in Germany.
Distributor Agreements Signed
As a result, TMI signed four distributor agreements, with six pending, Grad said. TMI’s story is indicative of what’s been happening at many U.S. companies, said a federal trade official who presented Grad with an award earlier this month.
Israel Hernandez, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and director general of the department’s U.S. Commercial Service, said companies from small to large are finding similar success in international markets in recent years.
By spotlighting a local company helped by the Commercial Service, it inspires other businesses to undertake similar steps, Hernandez said.
“The main message that we’re sending is that if you can do business here in the United States, you can certainly do business overseas,” he said.
SDBJ Article
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