GF takes increasingly global outlook

ATLANTA - A 35% increase in its international business in the past two years has fueled two recent announcements at GF Health Products, says company exec Ken Spett.

The company announced in December that it was buying Intensa, a healthcare furniture manufacturer based in High Point, N.C., in a move that increases its upholstery making capabilities by 40,000 square feet.

“We currently do upholstery in Georgia and that line is at capacity,” said Spett, president and CEO. “The growth we've seen requires us to expand.”

Intensa allows Graham-Field to control more of the manufacturing process, from its steel fabrication plant in Wisconsin and now to an upholstery manufacturing facility in North Carolina.

Spett chalks up Graham-Field's success overseas, where it has distributors in 84 different countries, with the high demand for largely U.S.-made, quality products.

“(Foreign providers) want the product you're making for the Mayo Clinics and the Johns Hopkins,” he said. “Also, as more domestic providers move overseas—hospitals and groups are setting up joint operations—they carry a lot of weight.”

With an international outlook in mind, Graham-Field also announced in October that it was expanding its global headquarters in Atlanta to serve as not only its main base but also its customer showroom, regional distribution center and cut-and-sew manufacturing facility. The address: 1 Graham-Field Way.

“We're leasing space for our regional distribution center and our cut-and-sew manufacturing facility, so it was time to make an investment,” Spett said. “It's a show of commitment to the markets we're in, that we're not going anywhere anytime soon.”