Former Trex employees form Quantum Medical

Several former Trex Medical employees from its Bennett division have formed a new radiography products company, Quantum Medical Imaging, which plans to release products by midsummer, according to Quantum president Scott Matovich.

Matovich, Bennett’s vice president for sales and marketing before he left that organization, said he left Trex voluntarily, but that when Trex closed the Bennett manufacturing facility in Copiague, NY, many employees lost their jobs or had to move to Trex’s factories in Massachusetts.

The new company opened a 5000-square-foot manufacturing center in Bohemia, NY, last month, and plans to move to a space with 15,000 to 20,000 square feet in the near future. Quantum currently has about 10 employees, a number they plan to grow to 25 or 30 very quickly.

“Our focus will be the radiographic imaging market,” Matovich said. “It will be general x-ray for hospitals and clinics—not mammography or CT and MR—working through exclusive distributors worldwide. Our real thrust will be to go out and focus on niches we’re good at.”

There are fewer manufacturers for low-end radiography products than 10 years ago, Matovich said. The company is talking to several distributors now that downsizing in the industry has left them at loose ends. Quantum plans to market heavily overseas.

The new firm is going through R&D to develop its product line, including preparing to incorporate digital technology. The company is also planning for Food and Drug Administration approval processes and is following the required procedures to become registered as an ISO 9001 company, Matovich said.

Quantum is privately financed and has no immediate plans to go public.