Royal Philips - The Medical Equipment Monarch

Nearly a decade ago, Royal Philips Electronics ofPhilips adopted Witt Biomedical Corporation, the
the Netherlands fathered Philips Healthcarelargest independent supplier of Cath Lab
Services and appears determined that theirmonitoring and reporting systems.
subsidiary will soon become King of the medicalIn its pursuit to be crowned King of the Medical
equipment industry. This move apparently came inEquipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has
response to GE Medical Systems' announcementobtained 6 businesses since its inception in 1998.
that it planned on becoming king itself of theEvery single one of the 6 has stretched Philips'
ultrasound industry before the year 2000. Not toofferings to include a total of ten medical imaging
be "out-royaled", Philips from the first yearmodalities, from CT to MRI to x-ray, along with
started an acquisition frenzy so they could expanddefibrillation and cardiac monitoring equipment plus
its subsidiary's product portfolio well beyond itsimage and information management solutions.
initial product line, which started in 1918 withSo, has Philips moved into the royal industry
medical x-ray tubes.castle yet? Some believe so. In fact, before the
At the end of Philips Healthcare Services firstlast two acquisitions, Palo Alto's "growth
year, Philips Electronics added digital ultrasoundconsulting" company Frost & Sullivan thought so.
systems to PHS's portfolio by getting ATLIn 2004 Frost & Sullivan announced they were
Ultrasound of Washington. Only two years after,giving Philips 5 awards for "technology and
in late 2000, Philips grew into nuclear medicine byservices innovation and industry leadership". Philips
absorbing ADAC Laboratories of California.was recognized for making distinguished
In 2001 was a very productive year as Philipscontributions to the cardiac resuscitation and
went into a very high gear by obtaining two moremedical imaging industries and for providing
businesses and their product lines - Agilent andleadership in these market segments.
Marconi Medical. By procuring Agilent TechnologiesWas Frost & Sullivan just searching for a place at
Healthcare Solutions Group of Massachusetts,the royal court or were these genuine kudos?
Philips catapulted past GE Medical as the leader ofProbably the later. F&S held interviews with a
the ultrasound sector. Philips absorbed Agilent'smyriad of market players along with their
expertise in the areas of diagnostic cardiology,customers and suppliers, and reportedly did great
automated defibrillators, patient monitoring, andresearch into the medical equipment technology
point of care diagnostic systems.field.
Marconi Medical Systems of Ohio, formerly PickerOne of the 5 awards included the regent-like titles
International, was already a big player in its ownof "Medical Imaging Company of the Year", "New
right among major global CT suppliers. WithCare Setting of the Year", and "Medical Imaging
Marconi, Philips gained cutting-edge multi-slice CTTechnology of the Year". The other two were
technology along with cardiology, oncology andfor Technology Leadership and Services
PET/CT imaging applications. These twoInnovation Leadership.
acquisitions in 1 year landed Philips in the top 3 forThe response of Jouko Karvinen, of Philips Medical
the entire medical equipment industry along withSystems, to the awards sounded like the exact
giants Siemens and GE Medical - some say assame of an industry coronation speech. He stated,
number two."We proudly accept the Frost Sullivan Awards as
Back in 2005, the growth continued as Philipsan independent validation of Philips business and
bought Stentor, Inc. of California, provider oftechnology leadership. These 5 awards are further
best-in-class picture archiving and communicationsindicators that Philips continues to set the industry
systems (PACS). This move allowed Philips to aidstandard for developing innovative products that
its clients successfully manage the many amountshelp treat patients and save lives."
of imaging data created by its medical scanners.NOTE: Use of this article requires links to be intact.
Then, the following year, the growth continued as