GE HealthCare
GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc. is an American health technology company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company, which stylizes its own name as GE HealthCare, operates four divisions: Medical imaging, which includes molecular imaging, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, women’s health screening and X-ray systems; Ultrasound; Patient Care Solutions, which is focused on remote patient monitoring, anesthesia and respiratory care, diagnostic cardiology, and infant care; and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics, which manufactures contrast agents and radiopharmaceuticals.
GE HealthCare's primary customers are hospitals and health networks. In 2023, the company received 42% of its revenue in the United States and 13% of its revenue from China, where the company faces increasing competition.
The company operates in more than 100 countries, with GE HealthCare major regional operations in Buc, France; Helsinki, Finland; Kraków, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; Yizhuang, China; Hino & Tokyo, Japan, and Bangalore, India. Its biggest R&D center is in Bangalore, India, built at a cost of $50 million.
In May 2022, General Electric announced the creation of a standalone healthcare company and completed the corporate spin-off in January 2023, establishing GE HealthCare as an independent, publicly traded entity.
History
Founding and early growth
GE HealthCare traces its roots to the Victor Electric Company, founded in 1893 in a basement by Charles F. Samms and Julius B. Wantz, previously employees of the assembly lines at the Knapp Electrical Works and Midland Electric Co. and then in their early 20s. They initially focused on supplies for the dental industry. At the time, they were a six-person operation.By 1896, one year after Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery, Victor Electric entered the business for X-ray machines. The business grew rapidly and so, in 1896, the company moved into new premises three times the original size. By 1896, the company also made electrostatic generators for exciting X-ray tubes and electrotherapeutic devices.
By 1903, Victor Electric had outgrown its facilities at 418 Dearborn St. in Chicago and bought two floors of a building at 55 Market Street, Chicago. This was again only a temporary stop; by 1910 it was too small and the firm moved again in 1911 to a building at the corner of Jackson Blvd. and Damen Avenue. This was the first permanent home of Victor Electric Co. They stayed there 35 years and during this time, gradually acquired all the space in the building and several around it.
In 1916, the company merged with three companies: Scheidel Western, Snook-Roentgen, MacAlaster & Wiggin. Victor's two founders had key roles in the new firm; Charles F. Samms was company president and Julius B. Wantz was Vice-President of manufacturing and engineering.
Acquisition by General Electric
In 1920, GE HealthCare entered the imaging technology business with the acquisition of Victor Electric Company, founded in 1893. By 1930 it was renamed to GE X-Ray; Before the introduction of the CT scanner in the 1970s and the MRI scanner in the 1980s, it declined to around 2% of GE's sales among the 120 departments in the conglomerate.In the 1990s the department began to diversify into various medtech businesses and executed 94 acquisitions between 1995 and 2017. It also continued to invest in research and development, with over 3800 patents between 2000 and 2009.
Moving from X-Rays to Medical as GE Medical System
Use of X-rays in industry for non-destructive testing of war materials increased during World War II. X-rays were broadly used as a medical tool for military services.As the war ended, GE X-Ray Corporation continued to grow. Greater production capacity and greater expertise was needed in the core business of building X-ray tubes. Since the tubes were made from hand-blown glass, the decision was made to move the company 90 miles north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in order to tap into the enormous amount of glass-blowing talent in Milwaukee's beer-brewing industry.
In 1947, the company moved from Jackson Blvd. in Chicago to a site in the city of West Milwaukee, which had been used for building turbochargers during the war. The street was renamed Electric Avenue.
In 1951, the corporate structure was dissolved and the name changed to General Electric X-Ray Department. This new name lasted less than 10 years as the department divested itself of its industrial X-ray business, widened its medical business, and took on the name of GE Medical Systems Department. One of the reasons for the name of Medical Systems was due to the increase in the electro-medical business, which began in 1961 with the introduction of patient monitoring equipment. By 1967 modular equipment was developed which was soon popular in cardiac and intensive care units.
Early in 1960, pacemakers were developed in Corporate Research & Development in Schenectady, New York, and in 1969 the Standby Pacemaker was developed. In 1968, the Biomedical Business Section opened its first factory in Edgerton Avenue. Late in 1970 a surgical package was introduced and in 1971, equipment to monitor blood gasses during surgery was introduced.
Later in 1971, Biomedical opened a 9,000 square meter admin and engineering building opposite its factory and in 1972, the section was renamed The cardio-Surgical Product Section. With the growth of its medical business, the General Electric Company upgraded the department to The Medical Systems Division in 1971. Also in 1971, a major expansion programme was started and the Waukesha factory was planned. Work started in July 1972, and was completed in 1973.
In the 1970s, CT scanners were introduced, followed by MRI machines in the 1980s, and GE became a major manufacturer of both. The department, named GE Medical Systems, grew rapidly under the management of Jack Welch, establishing international partnerships and acquisitions. It expanded to sell globally, including various partnerships and acquisitions, growing to 50% sales outside the USA by 1988.
Growth in the 1980s as GE Medical Systems
In 1982, the company set up a joint venture with Yokogawa Electric. It changed its name to GE HealthCare Japan Corporation in 2009.In 1983, GE Medical started investing heavily in Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology, investing nearly US$1 billion in a new plant in Waukesha. It developed the MR Signa, which became very successful. Up to this time, the medical Systems Division had simply been divided into domestic and international, but in 1987 it reorganized into the three "poles" of America, Europe and Pacific.
In 1985 GE acquired Technicare from Johnson and Johnson. Originally named Ohio Nuclear, the name was changed to Technicare in 1982. Technicare had been producing a range of rotate-stationary CTs with an installed base in the thousands, as well as some X-ray diagnostic equipment and a nascent MRI product range.
In 1988, GE Medical Europe merged with CGR, a medical equipment supplier based in France, to form General Electric CGR Medical Systems. The European headquarters were moved from Hammersmith to Buc, Yvelines, near Paris.
Expanding in the 1990s as GE Medical Systems
In 1920, Victor was acquired by General Electric and was renamed VICTOR X-RAY CORPORATION. At that time, it was the largest manufacturer of X-ray tubes.The merger of the Victor subsidiary and General Electric closed on July 28, 1926 and the company became "General Electric X-Ray Corporation". The merger brought renewed vitality to the organization and Victor entered the foreign market with equipment sold and serviced in nearly 70 countries. In 1930, the Victor name was phased-out from all branding; however, advertisements did mention "formerly Victor X-Ray Corporation".
In 1974, work on CT was started and the first CT machine was installed in 1976. In June 1980, the company acquired the CT scanner business of EMI.
The MRI magnet plant in Florence, South Carolina, was opened a short time later, giving GE its own magnet production. It underwent a $40 million expansion in 2017.
GE HealthCare was incorporated in 1994.
In 1992, GE acquired the Picker Service organization in the U.K.
In 1994, it changed the name in Europe from GE-CGR back to General Electric Medical Systems.
In September 1995, the company acquired Resonex, an MRI maker based in Fremont, California.
In 1996, Jeff Immelt was named CEO of the company; he became CEO of GE in 2000.
In April 1998, the company acquired Diasonics Vingmed from Elbit Medical Imaging of Haifa, Israel, expanding its ultrasound imaging business.
In September 1998, the company acquired Marquette Medical Systems for $808 million.
In November 1998, the company acquired the Nuclear and MR businesses of Elscint,, for $100 million.
21st century and renaming to GE HealthCare
2000–2005
In September 2000, the company acquired the remaining 50% of the ELGEMS joint-venture formed with Elscint in 1997.In 2001, the company acquired San Francisco, California–based CT maker Imatron for $210 million. Imatron produced an Electron beam tomography scanner that performs imaging applications used by physicians specializing in cardiology, pulmonology and gastroenterology. The Imatron business was later incorporated into GE HealthCare's Diagnostic Imaging business segment.
In March 2002, the company acquired MedicaLogic, creator of the former Logician, an ambulatory Electronic Medical Records system, for approximately $32 million.
In April 2002, GE HealthCare acquired Visualization Technology, a manufacturer of intra-operative medical devices and related products for use in minimally invasive image guided surgery, based in Boston.
In January 2003, the company acquired Millbrook Corporation, maker of Millbrook Practice Manager, a billing and scheduling system for doctors' offices.
GE HealthCare IT later merged the two products into one, although the stand-alone EMR product is still available and in development.
In 2003, GE HealthCare acquired Instrumentarium, including its Datex-Ohmeda division, a producer, manufacturer, and supplier of anesthesia machines and mechanical ventilators. To satisfy regulatory concerns in the United States and in Europe, GE HealthCare was forced to divest Instrumentarium's Ziehm Imaging mobile C-arm business, as well as its Spacelabs patient-monitoring unit.
In April 2004, the company acquired Amersham plc.
Also in 2004, GE HealthCare along with other healthcare companies built a research reactor for neutron and unit cell research at GE's European Research Center near Garching, Germany. It is the only such reactor currently in operation.