by
Marie Basarich | Feb 18, 2013
Continuing four decades of excellence and distinction, USA-based medical device manufacturer DeRoyal remains committed to improving both the clinical quality and economic health of its customers and its community.
DeRoyal proudly announces their 40th year anniversary. Continuing
four decades of excellence and distinction, USA-based medical device
manufacturer DeRoyal remains committed to improving both the clinical
quality and economic health of its customers and its community.
Considering only 9% of US companies survive 40 years or longer, it is a
major milestone for the privately-owned corporation.
DeRoyal has its origins in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of
East Tennessee where founder and owner, Autry O.V. “Pete” DeBusk was
born and raised, and continues to maintain its global headquarters. With
this deep-rooted heritage, DeRoyal is dedicated to preserving this
legacy with continued ventures, investments, and employment of the
people in the region.
DeRoyal founder Pete DeBusk worked for many of his early years as a
pharmaceutical salesman in Tennessee. After years of noticing the dirty
and deteriorating condition of many of the plaster casts he sold, Pete
DeBusk invented an orthopedic cast boot made of leatherette with a
rubber sole in 1973. Innovation has since remained a cornerstone of
DeRoyal’s strategy. Today, DeRoyal proudly boasts a portfolio of over 90
patents with many more on the way. While DeRoyal has always made it a
priority to remain on the cutting edge of technology in product
development, DeRoyal has also applied this philosophy to the internal
operations within the company. For example, DeRoyal was one of the first
companies to use bar code scanning technology to track their products.
At the time of its implementation DeRoyal Industries and Johnson &
Johnson were the only two medical manufactures using this technology.
After learning of scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak
Ridge, Tennessee, USA) implementing computer systems to track the
locations of enriched uranium, DeRoyal also became one of the first
companies of its type to implement computers into their manufacturing
and logistical operations.
Through innovation DeRoyal has been able to accomplish many industry
“firsts”. In 1987, DeRoyal became the first company in the industry to
offer custom procedural trays on a just-in-time basis. In 1990, DeRoyal
also established another industry first with TraceCart, the first “case
cart-to-waste cart” product delivery program. DeRoyal also developed two
high-tech “fab labs” in 2005, which allowed for an overnight
customization service for spinal orthosis and functional knee braces.
DeRoyal Industries has also used the practice of business acquisition
to bring innovation into the industry. While DeRoyal still continues to
internally develop products, the company has also focused on acquiring
innovative companies and ideas. DeRoyal seeks to acquire companies that
have innovative ideas, but little means to take their product properly
from development stages to market. From an early age, DeRoyal has also
acquired everything from knitting mills to electronic component
manufactures, to develop into the vertically integrated company it is
today.
Beginning in the early 1990’s, DeRoyal began to expand
internationally with the development of DeRoyal’s first international
operation in 1992, a manufacturing facility located in Kells, Ireland.
DeRoyal opened a facility in Costa Rica in 1998 known as DeRoyal
Cientifica, to manufacture key components of its temperature monitoring
devices. The 2000’s was an era of great expansion in DeRoyal’s
international operations, with the opening of facilities in Estonia,
Guatemala, Dominican Republic, as well as the establishment of a sales
and marketing office in Dublin, Ireland in 2012.
Today, DeRoyal employs approximately 2,000 people, markets more than
25,000 products, and holds more than 90 patents. DeRoyal continues with
the same entrepreneurial spirit in which it was founded. Today DeRoyal
offers a wide range of products in orthopedics, surgical and acute care,
wound care, implants, as well as OEM products and services. DeRoyal
strives to follow its mission, to manufacture quality products and
provide customers added value with innovative services.