Today we’d like to introduce you to Fred Aycock.
Fred, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Remington Medical was started in 1992 with the hope to solve a problem many cardiac rhythm management sales representatives faced at the time. There was a tremendous amount of down time every week for these representatives spent reprocessing devices needed to pacemaker and defibrillator implants. This time killed productivity and limited the number of implantations a sales representative could conduct.
Therefore, Remington Medical began manufacturing a cost-effective, single-use option for the sales representatives to use. From there, physicians began expressing a preference, causing the target market shifted from the sales representatives to the hospitals and doctors themselves.
Initially started as a manufacturing company, this became the heart of Remington Medical.
Continuing to bring more and more manufacturing in-house in favor of vertical integration was the strategy. Also, Remington Medical used this same innovative approach to see other areas of struggle in the healthcare space and continued creating innovative medical devices to solve these challenges.
After completing construction of our new facility in Alpharetta in 1997, that quickly became too small, and in the early 2000’s, we expanded to an additional location. With all the expertise and capabilities along the way, Remington began offering contract manufacturing solutions to other medical device companies.
Presently, we have grown to nearly 100,000 square feet spread between Alpharetta and the Dominican Republic. With our in-house tool shop, metal machining, injection and insert plastic molding as well as a variety of packaging and kitting capabilities, we continue with keeping manufacturing at our heart. We are fortunate to be able to continue manufacturing our own single-use medical devices as well as provide contract manufacturing services to a variety of major medical device companies.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
During our 25 years in business, we have faced many obstacles along the way.
Expanding our manufacturing acumen, coping with the changing regulatory environment, and managing growth have all been challenges we have faced.
When I founded the company, I had zero engineering background. I am a salesman to the core. So learning along the way how to continue to improve manufacturing processes and continue to grow our competencies was not always easy for me to grasp. That’s why I have a fantastic team around me today.
The regulatory environment is always changing. When I filed for regulatory clearance for our first device with the FDA, things were much simpler than they are today. The FDA continues implementing regulations to improve patient outcomes, and we must continue to adapt. We keep quality and patient safety at the forefront of our development and understand the importance of these regulations. The consistently evolving regulatory environment keeps us on our toes and always pushes us to exceed beyond the minimum regulatory requirements, so when the next set of regulations become law, we are already ahead of them.
During all of this, keeping up with growth has always been something requiring my attention.
Thankfully my team of talented engineers, finance professionals, production and material personnel ensure that I know the next move to make. This collaboration keeps Remington in the forefront of knowing what requires the investment before we know we need it.
Please tell us about Remington Medical.
Remington Medical is an innovative medical device manufacturing company, specializing in single-use, disposable devices.
What that means, is that Remington makes products under its name or for other companies under a contract manufacturing relationship, which healthcare practitioners consume during medical procedures. These devices are typically handheld in size, made of plastics and often have an electrical component such as cables, PCB boards, or a combination thereof. We also manufacture plenty of the traditional devices one may think of when he or she hears ‘medical device’ such as needles, medical bags, and other consumables. These devices are then packaged and sterilized to be ready on hand for medical procedures.
What sets Remington apart is also what I am most proud of as a company. Remington is made up of an incredible group of talented individuals. From the production floor up to executive management. Everyone is an expert in their field and able to innovate and provide creative solutions to the problems we face every day.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I grew up in rural Mississippi. When I was in sixth grade, I was a pretty small kid. Too small to compete in sports or playground competitions, so I needed to find a way to entertain myself. Back then, you could get a pint of chocolate milk for three cents. It was one of a couple of things that the kids wanted to buy from the cafeteria. I could see that there was a demand for the chocolate milk but not a lot of kids were buying a lot of chocolate milk.
So, I worked around the house doing extra chores to earn some additional allowance money. Then at school, I would loan classmates money to buy the coveted chocolate milk. Three cents now if they would get me a nickel in the next two weeks. Without knowing better, I had built a loan sharking operation.
My services went on for several weeks until one of the math teachers used my enterprise as an example to teach compounding interest. Then the principal caught wind of what was happening. I think he was secretly impressed, but he explained I was taking advantage of the student body and needed to shut down business.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6830 Meadowridge Court,
Alpharetta, GA 30005 - Website: www.remmed.com
- Phone: 770-888-8520
- Email: info@remmed.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/remingtonmedinc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RemingtonMedInc
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/322706
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