Originally published in 2014 and updated……….
At times, it seems like only yesterday that I spent my days inspecting and assembling product while Neal typed orders on our state-of-the-art Smith Corona electric typewriter. By 2 o’clock, we’d have processed our whopping five orders for the day and be ready for a nap. At quitting time, we’d often head to the local diner for the $3.99 dinner special – which constituted the bulk of our daily compensation for the first couple of years.
Then, there are times when it FEELS like the nearly 4 decades it’s been since Neal and I co-founded ADC in a tiny storefront on Oak Street in Copiague, NY. Particularly when I look in the mirror. A lot has happened in those 38 years. We’ve enjoyed many milestones.
We hired our first employee just a few months after opening our doors. In our third year, we made our first (of many) physical moves to our second facility in West Babylon and hired our first intellectually disabled employee. We would expand that facility five times before moving again in 1996 to our current location in Hauppauge, NY. By 1999, we hired our 50th employee requiring our first HR manager. In 2003, we received the first of many honors for our commitment to the hiring of the developmentally disabled. We hired our 100th employee in 2004. And, in 2007, we achieved ISO 9001 AND 13485 certification – one of only two US firms in our class to hold these respected Quality System marks.
In the second decade of the new millennium we expanded globally. In 2010 we opened ADC Ningbo, a quality and sourcing office and in 2017 we opened ADC Suzhou, a joint venture manufacturing facility that employs nearly 100.
In 2020, during what would be the first wave of Covid 19, we were honored as the HIA’s Large Employer of the year for our resilience during the pandemic. For more of our milestones, click here.
Which brings us to 2022. Today, in our 38th year, we’re one of America’s premier manufacturers of what we like to call "core diagnostic products." - the basic instruments of healthcare used in virtually every corner of the medical industry. Our brands have become the very definition of value proposition and are often regarded as industry standards. Adscope, Diagnostix, Medicut, System 5, E-sphyg, Adtemp, Adlite, Advantage, Adview and Adimals are just a few of the brands our customers have come to depend on to help them do their jobs.
We’re one of the world’s leading suppliers of stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers, digital stick thermometers, and a host of other diagnostic and personal instruments. We’re even the leading manufacturer of private label diagnostic brands too. With over 3800 products, sold in over 60 countries, there’s a pretty good chance you’re selling or using one of our medical instruments. Hopefully, you’re enjoying the experience. But either way, we always want to know.
Covid 19 has made the last two years incredibly challenging but all the more rewarding. Because unlike many, we are still standing – and providing some of the very tools needed to help combat the global pandemic that has defined this decade.
We owe our success to the millions of consumers who use our products; to the hundreds of authorized dealers worldwide who sell them; and to the scores of sales professionals that tell the ADC story every day. But mostly, we owe it to our incredibly loyal employees the world over, without whom this journey would have been that much more difficult. And far less rewarding. Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. And here’s to the next 38 years. May they be a bit less trying on my hair line!
Have a Happy, Healthy and SAFE New Year.