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A BUSINESS RESEARCHER HUNTING DOWN the secrets of innovation would do well to visit Symbiosis Corp., a seven-year-old Miami manufacturer of disposable medical instruments for minimally invasive "endoscopic" surgery. Acquired in 1992 by American Home Products Corp., Symbiosis' devices have helped to revolutionize many surgical procedures-- shortening hospital stays by as much as 90%.
The company's formula for success includes a blend of creative engineering, a knack for rapid product introduction, ingenious adaption of hobbyists' skills, and an entrepreneurial environment where good ideas flow freely and people get the support they need to do their best work.
But those aren't the only ingredients. Another is the willingness to rise to a challenge.
Symbiosis was created in 1988 when two engineers-Kevin Smith, its first CEO, and Charlie Slater--left their jobs with another medicaldevice company to form a syringe-manufacturing business. Started in a garage on a shoestring, the company has grown into a $50 million business, which today commands about 72% of the world market for disposable gastrointestinal biopsy forceps. It also makes disposable laparoscopic scissors and other instruments used for abdominal surgery.
A major turning point occurred in 1989, when the fledgling company's syringe sales were drying up. That's when Boston Scientific threw out a challenge to us to find a way to make a low-cost biopsy forceps," recalls President Bill Box, another founder and former VP of manufacturing. "We took the challenge, mostly because we were starved."
At the time, surgeons were using reusable forceps--priced at $300 to $400-which are difficult to sterilize. Boston Scientific Corp., one of several Symbiosis partners that market the Miami firm's devices to the medical community, saw an opportunity to reinvent the market if a way could be found to produce inexpensive-instruments that would sell as disposables. "We worked like crazy to develop a low-cost product," Box says.
One of the keys was the refinement of investment-casting techniques, traditionally used...