Invacare

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Invacare Corporation

Type	Public (NYSE: IVC)
Founded	1885
Headquarters	Elyria, Ohio
Key people	Malachi Mixon, Chairman and CEO
Revenue	▲1.5 billion USD
Employees	▲ 6,000+
Website	Invacare

Invacare Corporation (NYSE: IVC) is world's leading manufacturer and distributor of non-acute medical equipments including wheelchairs, mobility scooters, walkers as well as respiratory products.^[1] Headquartered in Elyria, Ohio, the company currently distributes its product to more than 80 countries around the world.

1 History
2 Harvard Alumni Achievement Award
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

History of Invacare can be traced its root back to 1885 when the Worthington Company began to produce a wide range of wheelchairs. The product lines were expanded several times, but its main focus remained in wheelchair.

In the 1970s, Invacare was owned by Technicare, a Cleveland medical device manufacturer. With Mal Mixon as its Vice President of Marketing, the company branches into the field of diagnostic imaging. Later in 1978, Technicare was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and subsequently put a rather obscure Invacare for sale. Driven by the wish of running his own firm, Mal Mixon expressed interest in buying Invacare. Because of financial constraint, Mixon had to borrow $4.3 million and raise another $2.5 million in order to buy Invacare at $7.8 million. The transaction closed on December 28, 1979.

Upon owning Invacare, Mixon faced quite a challenge: a debt load. By the end of year, due to competition and lack of new products, the company earned a merely $100,000 out of its $19 million sale. In 1980, sale skyrocketed to $2.5 million and earning over $1.4 million. Over the next year, Invacare branched into the field of home care bed.

Today, though numerous acquisitions, Invacare has grown into a $8-billion medical product industry, supplying over 25,000 medical equipment providers with its product and distributing them to more than 80 countries around the world.^[2]