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Fueled by two third-quarter acquisitions and a merger, a Buffalo medical device manufacturer is ramping up a growth plan to increase revenue from $300 million to $1 billion by 2030.
Nissha Medical Technologies is based at 400 Exchange St., where a team of 430 manufacture parts ranging from medical monitoring to minimally invasive surgical devices.
The plant is also home to the Graphic Controls Industrial Products division, which prints charts and thermal transfer ribbons for industrial and medical use, as well as millions of casino slot machine tickets.
The Buffalo facility is headquarters for a global operation with nine facilities in six countries and a global staff of 1,400. Nissha, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyoto-based Nissha Printing Co. Ltd. (TSE:7915) paid $135 million to buy the company in 2016.
Company roots date to 1909 when Graphic Controls Corp. got its start in Buffalo. In the last two decades, it has grown to become a major medical devices and consumables manufacturer with a customer base of hospitals and medical institutions as well as contract manufacturing for medical device manufacturers.
“There’s going to be growth opportunity here, and certainly what we’re trying to do is grow organically with the products we have now at all our sites,” said CEO Sam Heleba. “The gaming business is a good business and we have a large market share, but future growth is in medical devices.”
That growth comes in part from three strategic deals announced in the last 60 days that will lead to significant job creation in Buffalo.
• Acquisition of Cardinal Health’s medical chart paper business, including a manufacturing operation in Ohio that sells chart paper for cardiology and fetal monitoring devices. The deal included moving both equipment and 10 to 15 jobs here from Massachusetts.
• Merger with EndoTheia Inc., an endoscopic device startup out of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The deal is expected to provide potential in the area of robotics visualization and minimally invasive surgery. Nissha bought just over 17% of the company, and will end up buying the remainder in the next two years. Though the development side of the business remains in Nashville, manufacturing could end up in Buffalo two years down the line.
“That’s something a lot of our OEM customers are very interested in,” Heleba said. “We will be manufacturing the technology and its technology we’re going to own.”
• Acquisition of a majority interest in Isometric Micro Molding, a Minneapolis-area provider of precision components for the medical industry, with optics not much larger than a human hair, he said. Manufacturing and 110 jobs remain in New Richmond, Wisconsin.
“This really translates into a lot of different fields, not just urology but with orthopedics and anything to do with cancer surgery and cardiology, smaller is better," he said.
Heleba has a long history guiding the company's growth. He came to Buffalo in 1999 as president after Tyco International bought Graphic Controls and shifted out the medical side of the business. He remained with the company through several transitions, including a buy-back with a group of Buffalo investors; the sale in 2010 of a majority interest in the business to WestView Capital Partners, a private equity firm in Boston; and when Nissha Medical bought the company.
The Graphic Controls portion of the business in gaming, industrial and data reporting products now accounts for 10% to 20% of business, with the medical contract design and manufacturing operation (CDMO) making up the balance. OEM customers include Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific and Stryker.
The company has grown from 200 local employees and revenue of $25 million to $30 million in 2000 to more than $300 million today. Heleba said he's been directed by Nissha Japan to grow to $1 billion by 2030.
While some of that growth will take place in Europe and Southeast Asia and through acquisitions, Heleba expects lots of growth in Buffalo, where the company has capacity and an adjacent vacant lot on the Seneca Street side.
“We’re looking at our medical business growing at close to 11-12% on a compounded annual growth rate in businesses we have today,” he said. “Some of the enabling technologies – Isometric and EndoTheia – will grow at much faster rates, 20-30% growth. It’s cutting edge.”
Nissha is now looking to fill 27 full-time positions including 10 in marketing, engineering and IT.
“We’ve done extremely well here,” Heleba said. “It’s a good message for the City of Buffalo and Western New York that you have a large medical device company involved in cutting-edge things.”
Local manufacturing employees
| Rank | Prior Rank | Name/ prior (*new or not ranked)/ URL |
|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Moog Inc. |
2 | 2 | General Motors |
3 | 3 | Tesla Inc. |