Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew aims to be the first choice for patients, customers, investors, and employees, by establishing and meeting clear performance targets, developing innovative new products, and earning the trust of all with whom we deal. Key Dates: Nephew Horatio Nelson Smith partners with his uncle and the firm changes its name to T.J. Smith & Nephew. The firm makes several key acquisitions including Homecraft Holdings Ltd., Acufex, and Professional Care Products Inc. The company begins to restructure, focusing on orthopaedics, endoscopy, and wound management. Smith & Nephew plc operates as a medical device provider in more than 35 countries. Its products are related to orthopaedics, endoscopy, advanced wound management, and rehabilitation. The firm also operates BSN Medical, a 50/50 joint venture, along with Beiersdorf AG. Since 1998, Smith & Nephew has been restructuring business operations and divesting its consumer businesses to improve earnings and focus on medical devices. In 2001, the firm was a leader in wound management and was among the top four orthopaedic companies in the industry. Thomas James Smith was born in 1827. He trained as a pharmacist, first as an apprentice in Grantham, Lincolnshire and then, in 1854 and 1855, at London's University College, where Lord Lister, the antiseptic innovator, also studied. In 1856 he was admitted into the newly formed Royal Pharmaceutical Society and in August he bought his first shop at 71 White-friargate, Hull. Smith soon became involved in the wholesale trade of bandages and related materials. Smith took advantage of his proximity to the docks and fishermen of Hull and began supplying hospitals with cod liver oil, valued for its therapeutic value in cases of rickets, tuberculosis, and rheumatism (vitamins had not yet been identified). At the time, doctors' visits were expensive and pharmacists were often the first ones consulted. Most medicines did not require a prescription, and factory-made pills were only beginning to displace concoctions produced by doctors and pharmacists. T.J. Smith never married; in 1896, a few months before his death, his 22-year-old nephew Horatio Nelson Smith (named after T.J.'s father) became a partner. H.N. was known for his long hours and direct, inquisitive manner. H.N. had apprenticed for six years making draperies. The firm, now known as T.J. Smith & Nephew, shifted its production away from cod liver oil in favor of bandages. In 1907, it was registered as a limited liability company. When H.N. joined the company in 1896, staff numbered three. But when he signed a contract with the Turkish government in 1911 after the outbreak of the war with Bulgaria, employment reached 54. Soon thereafter a small local competitor, Lambert & Lambert, was acquired. Smith & Nephew bought sanitary towel manufacturer SASHENA Limited in 1912 (the name an acronym for 'Sanitary Absorbent Safe Hygienic Every Nurse Advocates'). The line was later known as, 'Lilia,' which had originally referred to an industrial cellulose towel product. The line also incorporated the 1925 acquisition of a half share of a German mill for producing cellulose sanitary towels, which had been developed to cope with the scarcity of cotton. As James Foreman-Peck records in his book Smith & Nephew in the Health Care Industry, the materials and methods for their manufacture were similar to surgical dressings, and women, buoyed by suffrage and a heightened role in the workforce, were becoming more affluent. In 1954, the line continued with the introduction of the Lil-lets brand of tampons. World War I provided a huge demand for bandages. Smith & Nephew staff increased to 1,200 as the company obtained contracts with several of the Allied governments as well as the American Red Cross. The firm's textile capacity also was used for producing certain military paraphernalia, such as weapons belts. In addition, legislation in the early 1920s, which stipulated that miners and factory workers have a