Enter Reinhold Schmieding and Arthrex.
Although Reinhold was born and raised in Michigan (graduating from
Michigan State in 1976), he relocated to the Black Forest region of
Germany to become an international manager for the US-based
orthopedics company, Richards. After three years of selling orthopedic
implants to surgeons in and around Germany, he became fascinated with
the new developments in the field of arthroscopic surgery. While viewing
the inside of the knee arthroscopically was becoming more commonplace,
there was a glaring lack of dependable instruments to manipulate the
tissues; namely, to grasp, cut away, and remove pieces of cartilage, bone,
and meniscus. Fortunately, for the budding entrepreneur, he was stationed
in southwestern Germany, long a home to the finest craftsmen in the world
for the manufacturing of surgical instruments. Sensing an opportunity,
Reinhold began designing and developing instruments for minimally
invasive surgery, and within months, decided to leave Richards and form
his own company. Naming his new enterprise “Arthroscopy Excision
Instruments,” shortened to “Arthrex,” he sat at his economical drafting
table and sketched out the Arthrex logo, still used today for the company
that is worth billions.
Arthrex struggled to survive in its opening years, much as Medtronic
had in the late 1950s. Cash flow problems, travel costs, surgeon
resistance, and initial limited product offerings had Arthrex on life
support. A few key early surgeons ordered surgical instruments and
provided cash, just as the breakthrough guide for arthroscopic ACL
reconstruction was designed by Schmieding. With Arthrex in its infancy,
Reinhold Schmieding traveled to Zurich, Switzerland to exhibit his small
set of knee instruments to a highly-regarded surgeon. After scrutinizing
the tools, he turned to the young upstart, and questioned, “Herr
Schmieding, davon wollen Sie leben?”^2 He was asking, “You want to live
from this?” The small set of instruments didn’t seem like an empire in its
infancy.
As has been documented numerous times in this book, most of the great
pioneers in medicine and surgery had great facility with their hands and
an unquenchable urge to tinker with gadgets and machines. Reinhold
Schmieding loved art as a child, and sensed, even in his early school
years, that he processed and thought about things differently than his
peers.