Swissray ups commitment to digital x-ray

In yet another indication that the digital radiography business is taking off, x-ray equipment vendor Swissray International announced that its German subsidiary, Swissray Germany, has sold its conventional x-ray business division to WSB Medizintechnische Beratung-, Service- und Vertriebsgesellschaft of Starnberg, Germany. In addition, the Wiesbaden-based subsidiary plans to change its name to Swissray and focus exclusively on digital x-ray technology.

“The decision for Swissray to entirely commit to direct digital radiography in Germany is in accordance with our overall business strategy and comes from the high demand for our ddR systems,” said R.G. Laupper, president, chairman, and CEO of Swissray International in Hochdorf, Switzerland.

In fact, while Swissray saw a 52% drop in revenue in the second quarter (end-December) due to a decline in its conventional x-ray and OEM business, sales of its ddRMulti-System digital x-ray system were up more than 10% in the same period. Bucking an industry-wide trend that has most DR companies reporting single-digit sales at best, Swissray sold 54 ddR units during 1999. This compares to just 12 units sold in the first two years the product was on the market.

The company expects to have 150 units installed by the end of this year, according to Ueli Laupper, CEO of Swissray America in New York City. With these installations, he believes Swissray will achieve revenue of $30 million to $35 million this fiscal year and will double that in 2001.