Greatbatch Sets Up Shop In Singapore: Targets Emerging Markets

Article preview from IN VIVO - September, 2012 

In July, Greatbatch Inc. announced that its QiG Group established a research and development center in Singapore, with a focus on the development of active implantable medical devices, that is, the kinds of devices that are powered by batteries or other sources. Greatbatch thus sets up a regional presence that will help it develop medical devices that address the specific needs of emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The Singapore initiative is also a stake in the ground for Greatbatch’s strategy to remake itself and the medical device industry.

 

Greatbatch Sets Up Shop In Singapore: Targets Emerging Markets

Article preview from IN VIVO - September, 2012 

In July, Greatbatch Inc. announced that its QiG Group LLC established a research and development center in Singapore, with a focus on the development of active implantable medical devices, that is, the kinds of devices that are powered by batteries or other sources. Greatbatch thus sets up a regional presence that will help it develop medical devices that address the specific needs of emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The Singapore initiative is also a stake in the ground for Greatbatch’s strategy to remake itself and the medical device industry.

Since it was founded in 1970, Greatbatch has gained the bulk of its revenues from selling components to medical device companies like Medtronic Inc., St. Jude Medical Inc., and Boston Scientific Corp., offering them batteries, capacitors, MRI-compatible device enclosures, catheters, electrodes, and other essential parts and pieces. Daniel Kaiser, PhD, chief technology officer of Greatbatch, says that at least one Greatbatch component is in 95% of the medical devices that are implanted in people today.

However, Greatbatch’s reliance on revenues from components tied to a flagging industry ( cardiac rhythm management ( was a disadvantage, and several years ago the company set in motion several strategies to help it diversify and grow. One of them was the formation, in 2008, of a new division called the QiG Group. Greatbatch would no longer be just an OEM manufacturer, but the QiG Group would use numerous in-house skills to develop, for the first time, its own medical devices in the active implantable category.

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