By Susan Ketchum, Sun News on August 18, 2011 at 9:30 AM
2011 has already been a banner year for Codonics
In February, the Middleburg Heights company received FDA approval for its “Safe Label System, which it quickly began manufacturing and marketing around the world. Also that month, Peter Botten, Codonics president and CEO, took part in President Barack Obama’s “Winning the Future” forum in Cleveland.
In May, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke bestowed the President’s “E” award, for exporting, on Codonics. It was the first of several awards earned this year for exporting, leadership and advancement in healthcare.
This month, the home-grown business began interviewing to add about a dozen employees at its Englewood Drive headquarters on Englewood Drive, and others to its international workforce. The booming business has come a long way since Botten began working on graphics terminals out of his home in 1982.
“We were always in the scientific market, but we found our niche with the medical market in the 90s,” said Christina Magalotti, recruiting manager.
That decade was also when Codonics began manufacturing its own products, which include a series of multi-media medical printers and other information management devices used in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Today the Codonics medical imager is the only one made in America.
“Exporting has become the foundation of our sales growth,” Botten said. “Made in the U.S.A. is truly valued, preferred and in-demand in all parts of the world.”
The SLS Safe Label System has also taken off globally. The system, developed in partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital, prints a bar-coded label while anesthetics or other intravenous medication is being prepared in an operating room or other medical setting. The system scans the drug vial and asks for confirmation before printing, then asks the user to confirm the label is correct. The prepared syringe is again scanned and the contents confirmed in an electronic readout before its contents can be injected into a patient.
“The system is an electron ‘triple check’ developed to greatly reduce drug errors,” said Gary Enos, vice president of business and technology integration. “The SLS Safe Label System will help to improve healthcare and drive costs down by improving patient safety and workflow efficiencies.”
The new device has helped to increase total sales worldwide. In the past year, Codonics has exported its products to 110 countries, with exports totaling 70 percent of sales. The company now has offices in Japan, China and several other satellite locations to help market its products.
“Whereas many companies are buying goods by the container load for distribution in the U.S., we are doing just the opposite. We’re shipping advanced medical products by air and sea containers around the globe,” said Tim Jakubisin, Codonics CFO.
The Middleburg facility includes three buildings totaling 125,000 square feet, including engineering, manufacturing, testing, and sales operations as well as warehouse space. Postcards from all over the world decorate the cabinets in the sales offices.
In addition, Daylight Medical, next door to Codonics, is an affiliate company that sells the paper, ink cartridges and other products needed for the Horizon printers.
“You would never know this is all tucked away in a corner of Middleburg Heights,” Magalotti said.