Medical firm steps into specialist China market

Apr 28 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

A CENTURY-old medical equipment business plans to open a manufacturing plant in China as it continues its drive to become the largest company in its sector.

Newcastle-based Peacocks Medical Group, which makes specialist footwear, leg braces and callipers, has set up a presence in a hospital in Shanghai for the supply of orthotic shoes and insoles.

The firm hopes to open a manufacturing plant to supply the shoes to China’s growing diabetic population which are at risk of ulceration of the foot.

Peacocks is working in partnership with Shanghai’s Number Six hospital and Newcastle General Hospital’s diabetic centre to train Chinese doctors to take measurements for the bespoke shoes.

Measurements will then be processed through Peacock’s computer-aided design system and manufactured in a factory in China.

Managing director Chris Peacock, the fourth generation of the 104-year-old company, said: “There is nothing like Peacocks in China. We are looking at supplying bespoke orthotics to the Chinese hospital system and we are in negotiations to set up a manufacturing plant in China.

“There’s a lot of paperwork to go through at the moment but we have an agreement to set up in one of the largest rehab hospitals in Shanghai.”

Most of the company’s business is with the National Health Service and with the service tightening its budgets the company has had to drive up volume. It has doubled sales since 2000 and the £9m-a-year company is expected to add around £1.3m to its annual turnover next year after winning a raft of major deals.

The last six months have seen the business win new contracts with five healthcare trusts including Dorset and Somerset and North Durham.

This year the company has also retained contracts worth £1.65m with four healthcare groups including Newcastle Primary Care Trust.

Peacocks originally opened in the 1850s making cutlery and scalpels, but changed to its current line in the 1920s as thousands of wounded soldiers returned injured from the Great War.