Graham-Field secures 'quick jump' with Gendron

ATLANTA - GF Health Products has significantly increased the weight capacity of its bariatric product line with its acquisition of Gendron in June, says President and CEO Ken Spett.

Gendron has a number of products with 1,000-pound weight capacities, including beds, patient lifts, transport stretchers and patient commodes.

“It bumps us up, in many cases, to double the weight limit that we've had in the past,” he said.

Gendron, which has been in the “mobile patient management business” since 1871, will remain a line in the Graham-Field portfolio, which also includes Lumex, Everest & Jennings and Hausted.

It's Gendron's longevity in the bariatric market that convinced Graham-Field to acquire the company, instead of just increasing the weight capacities of its existing bariatric products, Spett says.

“We've been moving up the weight limits on our products slowly,” he said. “But if you can (acquire) a product line that has been tested in the field for decades and you know it works, that's a quick jump for us into that market.”

Gendron was also attractive because, like Graham-Field, which has manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina, it manufactures its products in the U.S., but from a rented facility in Ohio, Spett says.

“We're populating our facilities with their bariatric lines,” he said. “We're still in the process of moving their people and inventory and parts into our facilities.”

Looking ahead, Gendron will help to establish a bigger presence for Graham-Field in the rental market to acute-care, long-term care and other facilities, Spett says.

“We've only been on the periphery of those markets in the past,” he said.

Graham-Field, which does business in more than 60 countries, will help to take Gendron global, as the market for bariatric products expands overseas, Spett says.

“While the bariatric market isn't for all countries—many countries don't have the same issues we do—we're beginning to see demand in countries like Australia and the Middle East,” he said. “We're there already, and we'll be adding the Gendron line.”