Our Company
The Past
Being former employees of a once local manufacturer of drilled end wound closure surgical needles, the owners felt the market had a need for US made goods. With that thought Design Concepts and Enterprises was created. Today we believe we are the largest manufacturer of drilled end suture attaching equipment. We develop, produce, and manufacture medical devices for the Surgical, Orthopedic, and Cardiac markets.
With 50+ years of combined experience, highly developed skills, and deep knowledge of the manufacturing process and customer base, the three Partners quickly began manufacturing suture attachment equipment in the evenings, in a 60 sq. ft. space on North State Street in Syracuse, NY, while simultaneously making the transition from B.G. Sulzle.
Design Concepts & Enterprises, LLC., herein DCE, was established as an LLC in August of 2007 and began to show a profit within their first year of business. In 2009, combining personal revenue with DCE profits, the Partners purchased a 1200 sq. ft. building on 2.25 acres of land in Central Square, NY. After remodeling and outfitting the facility themselves, they expanded the building by approximately 7,000 sq. ft. The expansion included second-story administrative offices and a large, fully functional, conference room. Initially, the Partners purchased manufacturing equipment but soon began fabricating their own equipment to include controllers. In 2011, DCE designed and drafted plans for an additional 1,600 sq. ft. ISO Class 7 Clean Room facility, which was completed in 2012.
Furthermore, DCE is proud to be assessed and certified as meeting the requirements of ISO 13485:2003/EN ISO 13485:2012/ISO 13485:2016. This action was pivotal to their success and taken in order to guarantee customers and suppliers that they care about the quality and standardization of goods, services, and suppliers. The certification covers all design, development, the manufacture of suture attaching machines, and contract manufacture of suture attaching. Additionally, DCE has been registered by the FDA for the marketing of medical sutures.
The Present
Already one of the largest suppliers of drilled-end surgical suture attachment equipment in the world, DCE’s sales and projected sales have notably and exponentially grown since founded in 2007. The current sales base is composed of 90% medical equipment manufacturers, with 90% of sales coming from customers in China, Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. DCE currently has service representatives servicing our world-wide customer base in China, Taiwan, Europe, and Puerto Rico.
DCE is unique among its competitors for providing full-service operations including developing concepts into prototypes while also manufacturing products and tools. Currently, DCE manufactures needles, machines to make needles, and machines to attach sutures to needles. DCE also creates prototypes of products to allow customers to either produce within their own facility or sub-contract production to DCE or another capable manufacturer.
The greatest asset of DCE is its employees; currently we have a highly efficient and growing staff of fabrication, production, R&D, engineering, quality, sales, and administrative employees. Staff input is always welcomed, more so, encouraged. DCE holds quarterly meetings during which immediate and long-term goals and expectations are set and thoughts and ideas for improving products and DCE as a company are solicited from the staff. DCE awards employees with bonuses based on annual profits. Visiting customers from all over the world are invited to meet with any and all staff members during visits.
Design Concepts & Enterprises, LLC. is entirely self-funded and is debt free.
The Future
Our primary goal is to exponentially grow annual sales to $10 million within five years, with a strong focus based on promoting clean room capabilities. Additional goals include training staff to manage production of products and equipment so the Partners can focus their attention more fully on growing DCE’s customer base through developing relationships with potential and new customers, particularly through presenting products and services at tradeshows, and continual focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiency, margins, and profit.