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TWST: We would like to begin with a brief historical sketch of the
company and a picture of the things you are doing at the present time.
Mr. Cross: dj Orthopedics is a unique orthopedic company in that we are
the only large orthopedic company that focuses exclusively on non-
operative products. The focus of the company is rehabilitation products
and bone regeneration products. We are a leader in the US market, which
is about a $1.6 billion market. We are located in Vista, California. We
have about 1,500 employees and we preannounced better-than-expected
revenue for the year to be approximately $286 million. The company was
founded in 1978 and was purchased by Smith & Nephew in 1987. In 1999
DonJoy was purchased from Smith & Nephew by a private equity group and
by members of management. In 2001, we took the company as dj
Orthopedics. Since then, we've made a number of small acquisitions to
continue to grow the business. TWST: What have been the key elements in your success?
Mr. Cross: We really think that it's innovation with our products. We
continually have a steady stream of new products to our customers that
solve problems. And in fact, I can give you the story behind that. When
I first joined the DonJoy division of Smith & Nephew, we were doing
about $12 million a year in revenue and we had about six products.
Today, we are selling to a similar customer base, but today we offer
them 600 products. So we've obviously found a way to surround our
customers, the orthopedic surgeons, with products that solve their and
their patients' problems. The second is we've always focused on customer
care, a sense of urgency about taking care of our customers, and I think
we've set the industry standard in that customer care. And then third,
we've worked hard to develop relationships with the opinion leaders in
our area. These opinion leaders tend to be the orthopedic surgeons who
take care of the local college team, the local professional team and
tend to be the thought leaders in the community. So it's really
innovation, a sense of urgency about customer care and customer
relationships.
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