Making up Mindray

Chinese company achieves success at home and abroad through quality

A company's first international order is often planned and prepared for at great length. But David Yin, managing director of Mindray Medical's European operations, recalled that his team's first international order in 2000 was "an accident".

Mindray's "made in China" label attracted the attention of a British company during Medica, a trade fair held in Germany. The company took one of Mindray's products to be assessed at a British hospital, and made a purchase after receiving assurance of its quality.

More than a decade later, Mindray has grown into an international leader in the medical devices industry, exporting products to more than 190 countries and regions.

David Yin says Mindray is committed to international expansion, especially in the US and Europe. [Photo/China Daily]

Its net revenue for the 2011 reached $880.7 million, of which $506.4 million was generated from overseas markets.

"We are committed to international expansion, especially in the US and Europe," says Yin. "These two markets are like two fortresses we have to conquer to become a truly global leader."

Mindray was founded in Shenzhen in 1991, originally as a trade company selling medical equipment produced by foreign companies in China.

But its co-founders Xu Hang and Li Xiting, who were engineers at a State-owned maker of medical instruments in the 1980s, had an ambition.

They wanted the company to one day produce its own medical equipment, so Mindray invested heavily in research and development and successfully came up with China's first patient-monitoring device in 1992.

In the late 90s Mindray realized that China's medical equipment market was limited compared with advanced economies like Europe and the US.

To prepare for international expansion, Mindray started to develop products to international regulatory standards.

Most of its products have the CE mark - which stands for the French "Conformite Europeenne" - that is mandatory for health, safety and environmental protection products sold in the European Union. Some of its products have received US Food and Drug Administration clearance.

Yin says the "accident" in 2000 was only made possible by this preparatory work.

"It demonstrated that we were ready for the foreign market."

In 2004 Mindray established an office in the US, and two years later in Britain. This network of subsidiaries and representative offices has since grown to cover about 20 countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.