Sabrina N. Gordon, Business Reporter

Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices and Diagnostics Group, a business segment of the New York-based conglomerate, has signed a Trinidadian company as sole distributor for its products in Jamaica, saying it was intent on growing its market here.

J&J has had a 12-year relationship with the company, medical equipment supplier AA Laquis Limited, which was introduced here at a dinner function Monday. The Trinidadian company has registered a subsidiary in Jamaica to handle the business.

"Johnson and Johnson has been in Jamaica for a number of years in many different ways, how-ever, we have now decided to change the focus in the Caribbean and especially in Ja-maica in order to improve the level of service and avail-ability of health care equipment on the island," said Roger Brownrigg, corporate business director of Johnson & Johnson Medical.

Multimillion market

Brownrigg was reluctant to put a figure on the amount of busi-ness the com-pany was doing in Jamaica, but said it was a multimillion-dollar market that, prior to hiring to AA Laquis, was serviced through 'on demand' shipments to the island.

"This modality would take a great length of time and would many times leave the marketplace without the necessary products at the right time," said Brownrigg.

AA Laquis Jamaica Limited, which set up operation in April of this year on Constant Spring Road in Kingston, will supply all hospitals, doctors, dentists, labs, and training institutions, both in the private and public sectors, J&J Medical's products.

The company already operates in the OECS region as well as Guyana, and the Cayman Islands, and will be expanding next to Barbados in September.

"While we have served the Jamaican market in a limited capacity for many years through our exports from Trinidad, we have always believed that Jamaica presents the largest opportunity for regional growth and hence, it has always been our intention to establish a local office in Jamaica," said Amos Laquis, managing director of AA Laquis.

He too was reluctant to say the level of sales garnered from the Jamaican market or otherwise, "That's confidential," he said, "can't give out such information."

Different business lines

J&J Medical Devices has seven different franchises or business lines, including laparoscopic equipment, DePuy - orthopaedic and neurosurgical devices which help patients regain mobility and quality of life with products, such as artificial limbs and alternative infusion of the lower spine to preserve natural motion and flexibility - cardio-logy, laboratory and diagnostic equipment.

The company said it is market leader in sutures and laparo-scopic surgery equipment in Jamaica, with plans to grow its other business lines through the localised distributorship.

"We believe that there is significant market potential here," said Brownrigg.

"We are market leaders in some of the more traditional products, however, there are other product lines such as orthoclinical diagnostic which is a laboratory equip-ment, and we have not yet placed a machine here, so we believe that there is significant opportunity in the market."

The new distributorship, he adds, is key to the company's growth strategy.

"We need to be able to have arms and legs - things that we cannot do directly - to get to the Caribbean region. We will be able to deploy resources strategically and depend on partners like Laquis to develop each market effectively," Brownrigg said.

The details of the contract were not disclosed, but AA Laquis will earn a percentage of sales proportionate to the increased business it creates, or as J&J puts it, the value added in the supply chain.

"It is difficult to say the commission that AA Laquis will receive," said Brownrigg.

"Market prices are sensitive and some products are leveraged against others. Sometimes a certain product line is much larger than others, for example, in managing a laboratory business, they will make extensive investment in buying all capital equipment for hospitals in exchange for a supply agreement for a fixed period of time," he said.

Voice of the customers

J & J's Caribbean and Latin America office has approximately 20 representatives in the island, including regional vice-president Francis Boero, on a three-day visit for discussions with medical executives on what their facilities need.

"A key component in the strategic direction is to incorporate the voice of the customers. We are putting in place a different business model - developing innovative solutions for each individual customer and not a package of products," Brownrigg said.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com