The Supreme Ruler of Medical Equipment- Royal Philips - By: Jesse Fisher

In 1998, Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands fathered the Philips Healthcare Services group and Royal Philips appears determined that their subsidiary will soon become King of the medical imagingequipment industry. Apparently, this move was in response to GE Medical Systems' announcement that it planned on becoming king itself of the ultrasound industry before the year 2000. Not to be outdone, Philips from the first year started an acquisition frenzy so they could expand its subsidiary's product portfolio well beyond its initial product line, which started in 1918 with medical x-ray tubes.

At the end of Philips Healthcare Services first year, Philips Electronics added digital ultrasound systems to PHS's portfolio by getting ATL Ultrasound of Washington. Only two years later, in late 2000, Philips grew into nuclear medicine by absorbing ADAC Laboratories of California.

In 2001 was a very productive year as Philips went into high gear by bringing on two more companies and their product lines - Agilent and Marconi Medical. By procuring Agilent Technologies Healthcare Solutions Group of Massachusetts, Philips catapulted past GE Medical as the leader of the ultrasound sector. Philips absorbed Agilent's expertise in the areas of diagnostic cardiology, automated defibrillators, patient monitoring, and point of care diagnostic systems.

Marconi Medical Systems of Ohio, formerly Picker International, was already a big part in its own right among gigantinc global CT suppliers. With Marconi, Philips obtained cutting-edge multi-slice CT technology along with cardiology, oncology and PET/CT imaging applications. These two acquisitions in one year put Philips in the top three for the entire medical equipment industry along with giants Siemens and GE Medical - there are those who say as number two.

In 2005, the growth continued as Philips purchased Stentor, Inc. of California, provider of best-in-class picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). This move let Philips to aid its clients successfully manage the voluminous amounts of imaging data designed by its medical scanners. Then, the following year, the growth continued as Philips adopted Witt Biomedical Corporation, the largest independent supplier of Cath Lab monitoring and reporting systems.

In its drive to become King of the Medical Equipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has obtained 6 companies since its inception in 1998. Each of the 6 has stretched Philips' offerings to include a total of 10 medical imaging modalities, from CT to MRI to x-ray, along with defibrillation and cardiac monitoring equipment plus image and information management solutions.

So the question is, has Philips entered the royal industry castle yet? Some believe so. As a matter of fact, prior to the last two acquisitions, Palo Alto's "growth consulting" company Frost & Sullivan seemed to think so. In 2004 Frost & Sullivan announced they were awarding Philips five, count them, FIVE awards for "technology and services innovation and industry leadership". Philips was recognized for making distinguished contributions to the cardiac resuscitation and medical imaging industries and for providing leadership in these market segments.

Was Frost & Sullivan just searching for a spot at the royal court or were these genuine kudos? Probably the later. F&S held interviews with various market players and their customers and suppliers, and apparently did extensive research into the medical equipment technology field.

One of the 5 awards included the regent-like titles of "Medical Imaging Company of the Year", "New Care Setting of the Year", and "Medical Imaging Technology of the Year". The other two were for Technology Leadership and Services Innovation Leadership.

The response of Jouko Karvinen, CEO of Philips Medical Systems, to the awards sounded like the exact same of an industry coronation speech. He stated, "We proudly accept the Frost Sullivan Awards as an independent validation of Philips business and technology leadership. These 5 awards are further indicators that Philips continues to set the industry standard for developing innovative products that help treat patients and save lives."

Royal Philips. Long live the Ruler!

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About the Author

Jesse Fisher enjoys writing articles for his clients. He serves as trafficmaster for TransAmerican Medical, the largest independent provider of refurbished Philips medical equipment, systems and parts. This article may be republished online if reproduced in its entirety.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Jesse-Fisher/48874

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