EXOGEN Milestone – Ron Lambe’s Front Seat in Helping Produce 1 Million Units in Memphis
In fall of 1999, Smith & Nephew was completing an acquisition of a company called EXOGEN and in Memphis, Ron Lambe, then a 25-year Smith & Nephew employee, was working with a group of employees that were building and repairing orthopaedic instruments. In those days his supervisor was Terri Chenault and that fall the manager for their group came in and asked for volunteers to learn how to manufacture a new product that was completely different from anything manufactured in Memphis.
“Smith & Nephew was known for implants,” said Ron. “All we knew was that they were excited by the acquisition and the product was a hand held device that healed broken bones.”
The manager explained the plan was to move manufacturing of the device from New Jersey to Memphis and he was looking for volunteers to learn the system as it would be a new offering from Smith & Nephew in 2000.
“I was interested and wanted to do something different, so I threw my name in and was among the four chosen to learn the assembly process,” said Ron.
During the first visit in December the group just watched and observed. Following the holiday break the four returned to New Jersey and in January began to manufacture the EXOGEN units on site.
“And that’s when I met Kevin Tanis,” he remembers. “We then brought the manufacturing down to Memphis. It was a risk since it was totally different from what we did at that location on Brooks Road.”
Ron and his colleagues knew how to build the units, but did not know exactly how they worked and so Smith & Nephew brought Kevin Tanis down from New Jersey to Memphis, too.
“That was huge,” said Ron. “He’d been with them for a number of years and understood how the product worked.”
In those early days, each person did their own production order where the team, as a whole, could produce roughly 60 units per day.
“We had to get whatever we could get done to put them on the truck by noon,” said Ron. “Eventually as we grew the business we got up to 200 to 250 units per day.”
For comparison today the team in Memphis has the capacity to manufacture 530 units per day, but currently runs about 350 per day.
As EXOGEN sales began to take off, more people were added to the team to do quality inspections and material orders to keep production humming. When Anthony Hill started at Smith & Nephew he joined the team in a material deployment role for the project.
Anthony, along with Ron, Terri and Kevin are the remaining four original employees from those early days at the S&N location on Brooks Road in Memphis.
“Even in those early days, patients would write to share their experiences,” said Ron. “The stories were kept in the hallway at Smith & Nephew.”
Recalling the story of a woman that suffered with a nonunion fracture for many months, Ron remembered, “The leg was so bad an infection set in and she was told by a doctor that her leg may need amputation. The woman eventually was prescribed EXOGEN. Her fracture healed and she kept her leg.”
After about seven years the group moved to a Smith & Nephew location on Holmes Road. More people were added and business continued to grow. Five years later HR visited the team and told them the Clinical Therapies business, of which EXOGEN was a part, was going to spin out to become Bioventus. The team eventually moved again to the current location in Cordova.
Over this period of time Dennis Morris, who retired last year, replaced Terri as Ron’s supervisor and Dennis was succeeded by Andy Exum who today serves as Supervisor of Manufacturing and Operations.
“We’ve had great leadership in those roles and in the top roles at Smith & Nephew and Bioventus,” said Ron. “I’ve been at this now for 45 years and that is rare. I’ve been very blessed with good health and good opportunities. Employees move around to other jobs and companies don’t last that long anymore.”
For nearly 20 years, EXOGEN has been part of Ron’s life every day and today, June 12th 2019, we are celebrating the milestone of 1 million EXOGEN units manufactured by the team in Memphis. This number of units dates back to 2000, when Smith & Nephew began manufacturing, marketing and selling the device.
This is an impressive accomplishment and reaching this milestone serves as a testament to the success of EXOGEN, and to all of Bioventus as well as the clinicians who prescribe it and patients who use it. This milestone is a reminder of the positive impact that EXOGEN has on helping people heal and return to active lives.
Like Ron has for the past 45 years, we all play a part in the continuing story of EXOGEN.
EXOGEN Extras
The video below is a message from Tony Bihl on this EXOGEN Milestone.
The photo on the right is courtesy of Terri Chenault. It was taken when the team started manufacturing Exogen at Smith & Nephew on Brooks Road in Memphis. The team is holding one of the first Exogen 2000 units manufactured at this location.
Left to Right: Linda Locke – S&N Quality Manager; Michelle Donnelly from Exogen in New Jersey; James Dotson, Exogen Quality Inspector – 1 of 4 original volunteers – now deceased; John Robinson, Exogen assembler – 1 of 4 original volunteers – now retired from S&N; Terri Chenault, then Exogen Production Supervisor; Ron Lambe, Current Exogen assembler – 1 of 4 original volunteers; Teri Bolyog QA Manager from Exogen in New Jersey; Jerry Kessler, Exogen assembler – 1 of 4 original volunteers – now retired from S&N; and Steve Sayer, Engineering Manager at S&N at the time.
Click to see a PDF Featuring the evolution of the EXOGEN device.
How did Ron begin his 45 year career?
“I went to Memphis Technical High School and we called it Tech High,” said Ron remembering his high school days. “My older brother and three sisters all went there too and it was like any other high school in many ways and it also had a technical program that allowed you to learn a trade.”
Among the options for students were machine shop, printing and auto mechanics. Not wanting to be covered in ink, grease and oil every day, he chose the machine shop classes and working with metals. Ron learned how to use a lathe, drill presses, saws, grinding machines and mills and it paid off for him as he neared graduation in 1974.
Ron knew college wasn’t for him and had no plans after high school. But a chance encounter with two men from Richards Manufacturing, led him to filling out an application. Richards was looking for machinists and Ron was hired just a few weeks after graduating.
This company would later become Richards Medical and then be purchased by Smith & Nephew in 1986.
“Even though the company names have changed, I’ve been here the whole time,” said Ron. “And it’s pretty cool that my 45th year anniversary working away at this career will be on June 24th.”
Ron just turned 64 and thinks he wants to work for a couple more years and then retire. But he won’t slow down.
“I’m active in my church so I’ll do more there. If I get bored maybe I will pick up some hours at Lowes or Costco,” said Ron. “The time has gone by so fast and I’m amazed when I think about it,” said Ron. “God has blessed me all these years with great teammates to work with, an excellent leadership team to lead and guide us, and an amazing product in EXOGEN that has impacted many lives for the better. We are all blessed! “