Fluke sets aggressive targets

The work station at the Fluke Biomedical plant in Carson City doesn't look like anything particularly exciting.

It's a U-shaped work area big enough for one person.

Small plastic bins labeled with the electronic components they contain fill the shelves that surround the worker.

Laminated sheets in a notebook provide photos and step-by-step assembly instructions for medical gear.

While it may not look like much, the work cell is a big deal for Fluke Biomedical and a management team that is committed to growing the business by 50 percent in the next year.

Eric Perron, president of the company that was known until a few days ago as DNI Nevada, said last week the work cells double workers' productivity while cutting the space required for manufacturing in half.

It's no wonder that Fluke is moving as quickly as possible toward replacement of traditional bench assembly lines in which a worker installs a part or two, then hands it along to a worker at a neighboring bench with work cells.

It's particularly useful, Perron said, because Fluke Biomedical manufactures equipment in short runs typically a unit or two at a time in direct response to customer orders.

The company makes about 100 products that test the electronic equipment used in hospitals.

Medical patients, for instance, are accustomed to sticking their finger into a device that quickly reads their blood pressure.

Fluke makes the equipment that simulates a human finger so that hospital employees can ensure that their equipment is accurate.

Another of the company's products analyzes the defribrillators used in hospitals.

The build-up of the U.S.

military in anticipation of a war in Iraq is felt at Fluke, where big military orders are stretching the company's goal of shipping products within five days of receipt.

While those military orders provide a short-term boost to Fluke Biomedical's business, Perron said the company's medium- term potential is found in world markets.

Half the world market for medical test equipment is outside the United States, he said, but only 25 percent of Fluke Biomedical's business is international.

"Fifty percent of our sales should be outside the United States," Perron said.

China by itself, he said, could be a $1 million annual market no small change for a company that has its sights set on $23.6 million in sales during 2003.

At the same time that's pursuing aggressive sales targets, Fluke will be consolidating its operations near the Carson City airport and finishing a corporate reorganization.

Fluke Corp., based in Everett,Wash., last spring acquired DNI Nevada, the biomedical division of Vermont's Bio-Tek Instruments and Dale Technologies from Lionheart Technologies.

All three companies are involved in making medical test equipment.

Fluke placed Perron the former head of Bio-Tek Europe in charge of the combined operation and established its headquarters at the DNI Nevada facility.

The next step, moving Bio-Tek and DNI Nevada under the Fluke Biomedical name, was launched last week.

A bigger chore will be moving all of the operations of the company from two buildings into one at Carson City.

Perron said the company's 100 workers (and 20 temporary staff ) will be quartered in a leased 12,000-square-foot building at 5200 Convair.

They'll be moving from a 22,000- square-foot building on four acres owned by the company at 2000 Arrowhead Drive.