Fluke buys DNI Nevada, Dale and Bio-Tek’s Biomed; Instrumentarium bids $140
million for Spacelabs
Fluke buys DNI Nevada, Dale and Bio-Tek’s biomed
Electronic test tool company Fluke Corp. (Everett, Wash.) burst into spring with the
news that it had purchased DNI Nevada (Carson City, Nev.), Dale Technologies (Thornwood,
N.Y.) and the Biomedical division of Bio-Tek Instruments (Vinooski, Vt.) from Lionheart
Technologies Inc. (Carson City).
The sale was effective March 19, but no other financial details were available. The
deal leaves Lionheart free to concentrate on its core business, the Bio-Tek Instruments
Laboratory business.
Eric Perron, former president of Bio-Tek Europe and a Lionheart employee for 32 years
who at one time designed test equipment, has been appointed president of the new group,
which remained unnamed as of press time. He said plans are to continue the three brand
names without a break in product or service.
“Hopefully, the customers will see very little difference and only
improvements,” he remarked. “We will continue to use the name Bio-Tek
Instruments; that division will continue. We will continue with the DNI division, as well
as the Dale division, so those three brand names will continue in the marketplace with no
interruption and maybe some better things in the future.”
Instrumentarium bids $140 million for Spacelabs
Instrumentarium Corp. (Helsinki, Finland) on March 22 announced it will buy Spacelabs
Medical Inc. (Redmond, Wash.) in an effort to boost its presence in the U.S. critical care
monitoring market.
Under the terms of the agreement, Instrumentarium will pay $14.25 in cash for each
share of Spacelabs common stock for a total of approximately US$140 million.
Instrumentarium will fund the acquisition from cash on hand and existing credit
facilities, according to a statement issued by the company.
The deal has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected
to be completed in July. It remains subject to approval by Spacelabs’ stockholders,
other regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
The business will operate as the Spacelabs Medical division of Instrumentarium, the
company said. It will continue to serve its customers directly through existing U.S. sales
channels.
 Duct Tape Guys
It’s strong. It’s flexible. It’s a true
necessity to any biomed. It’s duct tape.
And after scouring the Internet for years, the Web
Worm has finally found an online shrine suitable to the miracle that is duct tape,
courtesy of the Duct Tape Guys. Tim Nyberg and Jim Berg are two guys from Minnesota and
Wisconsin who have “dedicated their lives to duct tape” according to the site.
As part of that dedication, Jim and Tim have become the first Webmasters to give adequate
credit to the adhesive from the heavens (at least in one slimy surfer’s opinion.)
 Duct tape beginners (if
there is such a thing) will want to get up to speed with the Duct Tape 101 section of the
site. For the latest information, check out Duct Tape News. Religious surfers can listen
to an 11-minute sermon on duct tape, courtesy of Rev. Mark A. Simone of the Federated
Church of Christ in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The wiseacre worm loves the Practical Joker
section of the site that lists a variety of sticky stunts and the Duct Tape Art Gallery
provides an array of artistic projects that put duct tape in a whole new light.
Now if only the crawling critic could find such a suitable
tribute to Velcro. |
http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/
|
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Tempest Tours
So you’re looking for a more exciting
vacation? The Carnival Cruise just didn’t provide that rush you’re seeking?
Bungee jumping just doesn’t provide the life-threatening buzz you crave? Maybe
it’s time you looked into Tempest Tours.
 Founded by filmmaker Martin Lisius,
Tempest Tours schedules a series of storm chasing expeditions into Tornado Alley,
following storms tracked by the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla. Tours
are based out of Oklahoma City and Denver. Scheduled during the tornado maximum season in
May and June, the tours are led by a team of experienced storm chasers. According to the
company Web site, “It is likely that guests will, at least, see significant storms
such as supercells. We’ll forecast and go to areas of highest tornadic risk.”
“Our guests are not surprised to hear that Texas and
Oklahoma are active area for tornadoes,” Lisius said. “However, they are usually
amazed to hear how active Colorado is. Most people think of mountains when they think of
Colorado, but the eastern part of the state is on the Great Plains and is prolific region
for tornadoes.”
But if you go, bring your credit card: Tours range from
$1,700 to $2,600 for five to 10-day tours with six to 13 guests on average. |
MERA Web site offers guides for service programs
The Medical Equipment Repair Associates (MERA of Columbus, Wis.) Web site recently
posted information regarding the availability of free planning materials designed to help
medical and scientific equipment manufacturers customize or develop maintenance and repair
programs for a changing market. MERAids, as the guides are called, are available to
manufacturers of healthcare and scientific equipment who sell in the United States, Canada
and the United Kingdom.
Among the planning materials are several of particular interest to companies with
in-house service programs.
“An Equipment Planning Checklist” addresses all key factors that should be
part of a total service program and lists them in order of priority. “How to
Calculate the True Cost of Your In-House Service Department” covers direct and
indirect costs of a service operation — both the obvious and the overlooked.
Masterplan engineers growth plans
With the recent signings of two new major service contracts, Masterplan (Chatsworth,
Calif.) has reason to feel optimistic about its prospects in 2002.
Before the end of 2001, Masterplan added two new contracts to its roster. Group
purchasing organization (GPO) AmeriNet Inc. (St. Louis) chose Masterplan to provide
maintenance services to one of its shareholders, Intermountain Health Care (Salt Lake
City).
Masterplan also inked an exclusive three-year service pact with 15 Catholic Healthcare
West (CHW of Pasadena, Calif.) hospitals in southern California. Masterplan will service
all clinical and medical imaging equipment in the facilities.
new managers to head up ecri
ry, ECRI (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.), founded as the Emergency Care Research Institute, has
appointed a new management team.
Jeffrey C. Lerner, Ph.D., has been named president and CEO. Lerner previously served as
ECRI’s vice president for strategic planning. ECRI’s founder, Joel J. Nobel,
M.D., moves into the new role of president emeritus, focusing on international health
services opportunities.
The members of ECRI’s new management team include Anthony J. Montagnolo, who
becomes COO and executive vice president, while Ronni P. Solomon takes the posts of
executive vice president and general counsel. The senior management team
Joint Purchasing and GEMS ink five-year, sole-source deal
Joint Purchasing Corp. (JPC of New York City) has signed a five-year, sole-source
agreement for GE Medical Systems’ (GEMS of Waukesha, Wis.) products and services. The
pact includes GEMS’ CompreCare equipment service management and delivery program and
its IntelliMotion asset tracking and reporting service. The contract also covers
JPC’s for-profit subsidiary, Creative Source Concepts Inc. (New York City).
Astea and MultiMedical hail joint product offering
Astea International Inc. (Horsham, Pa.) and MultiMedical Systems (Fresno, Calif.) have
collaborated on a new offering that integrates the mobile CRM capabilities of Astea’s
AllianceEnterprise CRM (customer relationship management) Suite with portable biomedical
equipment testers and safety analyzers.
The new product, the AllianceEnterprise MedService, considers itself attractive to
service organizations for several reasons: It handles the requirement for scheduling
preventive maintenance; it automates the chore of collecting equipment data using
checklists; and it provides an audit trail of the tasks performed for regulation purposes.
Acceletronics achieves ISO 9001, aligns with cablon
March proved a busy month for Acceletronics Inc. (Exton, Pa.). The radiotherapy
equipment service organization received its ISO 9001:2000 registration on March 18,
followed by an announcement on March 21 of its strategic alliance with Cablon Medical
(Leusden, The Netherlands) to market and support that company’s TheraView Technology
line of portal imaging systems.
Acceletronics won its ISO 9001:2000 Certificate of Registration after passing a
rigorous audit of the company’s service and distribution processes for its radiation
therapy equipment service.
“Acceletronics has adopted the ISO 9001:2000 standard as the foundation for its
quality system, as it continues to provide complete and reliable service solutions based
on industry standards to its customers worldwide,” Steven Schwartz, Acceletronics
president and CEO, said in a company statement.
Huestis Medical names new distributor for Japanese radiotherapy market
Huestis Medical (Bristol, R.I.) in March named CMS Japan K.K. (Tokyo) as the exclusive
distributor of Huestis Medical’s radiotherapy products in Japan.
According to Huestis, CMS Japan K.K. will sell and market Huestis radiotherapy
shielding block cutters, beam compensation systems and positioning accessories.
“CMS is far and away the radiotherapy treatment planning system of choice, having
sold more systmes in Japan than all other systems combined,” Terry Chwalk, Huestis
executive vice president, commented in a statement. “This is a great opportunity to
be associated with a Japanese leader in the radiation therapy market.”
Neodyme FIles Chapter 11; Collins Resigns Presidency
Collins has resigned as president, according to a March 27 article in the Bryan/College
Station Eagle newspaper.
The paper quoted Stephen Sather, an Austin lawyer who is representing NeoDyme in its
bankruptcy proceedings, as saying that the “litigation intensive” bankruptcy
case will probably take at last a year to resolve.
Chapter 11 shields a company from the threat of creditors’ lawsuits while it
reorganizes its finances. NeoDyme must file its reorganization plan by July 19.
Correction
A Postcards item in our March issue mentioning
that IMS represents both Bio-Tek and DNI was incorrect. IMS, which was slated to appear at
the Michigan Society of Clinical Engineering’s March meeting, represents DNI. Medical
Specialties Inc. is Bio-Tek’s representative in that area. |
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