Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports provide a full review of the company's activities, from its origins to its latest corporate activity, including mergers and acquisitions, agreements, divestitures, major purchasing contracts and litigation. Sections are included on products, international activities and R&D, as well as a full, in-depth five year financial analysis. An introduction to each report and a full table of contents is provided for review. More than 60 Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports are currently available. Headquartered in London, UK, Smiths Medical is a leading supplier of devices used during critical and intensive care, surgery, post-operative care during recovery and home infusion therapies. The company also offers products for veterinary use. Smiths Medical is a business of Smiths Group plc, representing 21% of its parent company's revenue in the last fiscal year, as well as 22% of operating profit and 27% of assets.

The company offers airway management, pain management, temperature management, infusion, implantable access, safety IV catheters, safety needles and syringes, critical care monitoring and drug delivery products. Its key brands include Portex, Jelco, Pneupac, Level 1, CADD and medfusion. The company segments these products into three main areas:-

Medication delivery, including infusion pumps and sets, diabetes pumps and implantable ports.

Critical care, including airway, temperature management, endotracheal tubes, patient monitoring products, anaesthesia products and pressure transducers.

Safety devices, including peripheral IV catheters and needle protection devices.

The company also offered a line of invasive blood pressure monitoring and blood sampling products through its pvb Critical Care unit in Germany, but sold the company in 2005.

Smiths Medical significantly expanded its operations in March 2005 through the acquisition of Medex, a leading US supplier of infusion equipment used in critical care, specialising in intravenous infusion catheters which prevent needlestick injuries. Its products were complementary with the Smiths Medical range, selling to the same customer base in hospitals and other healthcare locations. Smiths Medical is now 50% bigger than in 2004, with much of this growth coming from the Medex acquisition.

Following the acquisition, two-thirds of the Medex products are now included in Smiths Medical's safety devices portfolio and a third in critical care. Smiths Medical does not provide exact breakdowns of its revenue by product type. Critical care products currently represent the company's largest area, accounting for about half of revenue, while medication delivery and safety devices each represent around a quarter of sales.

An exact breakdown Smiths Medical's sales by geographic region is not provided by the company either. However, at a June 2006 investor conference, estimates for fiscal 2006 included 55% (approximately £405.4 million) of sales generated in the Americas, 30% (approximately £221.1 million) in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and 15% (approximately £110.6 million) in the Asia-Pacific region. The US is a key market for the company, where it benefits from several large GPO contracts, including with Novation and Premier.

Smiths Medical's manufacturing is concentrated in the US, the UK, Mexico and Italy. The company's sales, marketing and manufacturing operations were greatly expanded through the Medex acquisition. Since then, Smiths Medical has undertaken an integration and rationalisation programme to reduce its number of sites. The two companies' sales and marketing functions have been integrated, with Smiths Medical now operating sales and marketing functions in Japan, south east Asia, Australia, South Africa, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, the US and Canada.

The rationalisation of manufacturing and distribution is now under way. Production at Duluth, Georgia; and Wampsville, New York; in the US was transferred to St Paul, Minnesota; and Dublin, Ohio; in 2006. A key focus for the company is also to reduce the cost of manufacturing its products, with an emphasis on transferring production to its lower-cost facilities in Mexico. As part of this project, in March 2006, Smiths Medical announced its intention to cease manufacturing at its facility in Hythe, Kent, UK, and transfer the operations to Mexico by March 2008. The company is also automating its high volume production lines at its facilities.

In addition to its integration and rationalisation efforts, Smiths Medical has undertaken measures to enhance its product portfolio over the past year. This has included launching its own new devices to complement existing brands, including the acapella duet vibratory PEP therapy system, software for the CozMore Insulin Technology System, the PressureEasy Cuff Pressure Controller for endotracheal tubes, Sure-Pro and Sure-Pro Ultra embryo replacement catheters, the Advantiv Safety IV Catheter, Portex RapID Spinal Needles, ProBloc S Nerve Block Needles and the CADD-MS 3 Ambulatory Infusion Pump. In addition, it has formed several distribution agreements which added new technology to the portfolio, mainly in the US. This includes the US distribution of Inditherm's heated mattresses and blankets, PHASEIN's emergency capnometer, VSM MedTech's's BpTRU blood pressure devices, W R Grace & Co's Sodasorb LF Carbon Dioxide Absorbent and Medcomp's Split Stream Hemodialysis Catheters.