Permobil, PDG ‘share vision’ 

LEBANON, Tenn. – Permobil’s acquisition of PDG Mobility not only fills a gap in the company’s portfolio in the Americas for a high-quality tilt-and-recline manual wheelchair but also brings on board a team of experts for further development, says Chuck Witkowski. 

“It’s always about the people and their expertise,” said Witkowski, president, Permobil Americas. “The more we learned about the company, the more we felt like they shared our vision of the types of products that we want to build. They have a team that, frankly, hasn’t thought about anything other than tilt and recline for 20 years. They’re experts.” 

Permobil announced it had acquired Vancouver, B.C.-based PDG Mobility earlier this month. 

In the near term, Permobil’s plans for PDG Mobility include making its seating and positioning solutions, particularly its ROHO cushions and Comfort solutions, more available to PDG's customer base, Witkowski says.

“Then, going forward, we’ll look for ways to improve the interface for a more comprehensive, next-generation solution," he said.

Permobil also plans to expand PDG’s manufacturing capacity sooner rather than later, so it can broaden and deepen the company’s presence in North America and beyond, Witkowski says. 

“We’ve seen where other acquisitions we’ve made have driven a lot of volume, so we want to make immediate investments around making sure we give them the capacity and tools to support that,” he said. “They’ve been growing very rapidly the last several years and we want to use our scale and resources to further support that growth.” 

PDG positions Permobil well to access the large market for tilt-and-recline manual wheelchairs, Witkowski says – one that the company believes will continue to grow as the population ages.

“PDG is a leader in this area,” he said. “They were the first to develop a chair that could be used for semi-independent individuals who needed to foot propel with the ability to access tilt functionality. They’ve done some things, from a product standpoint, that present a lot of opportunities for that demographic.”