SIMS BCI, Inc. (BCI International)

Health-care reform has created a whole new playing field within the medical device manufacturing industry. Contract buying is quickly becoming the norm throughout the industry. Smaller companies, such as BCI, have the ability to reduce cost on a much more effective basis than our larger, slower counterparts", said BCI President and COO Frank Katarow. BCI has built a business based on saving money, and when the top priority in managed care becomes cost reduction, BCI will be in a position to take the leading role in all areas where its technology applies.

BCI International designs, manufactures and distributes noninvasive respiratory patient monitoring equipment that includes oximeters, gas monitors, vital signs monitors and capnometers. The corporate strategy, according to Mr. Katarow, is "to identify market niches and produce monitors in sufficiently large volumes to offer health-care professionals a cost-effective price". This focus has proven successful, with sales steadily increasing - from $17 million in 1994 to $30 million (projected) this year. According to Financial Briefs of Wisconsin Corporations, a reference book published annually by a Milwaukee-based investment firm, Robert W. Baird & Co., BCI International had the highest annual earnings-per-share growth rate of publicly held Wisconsin companies - 100% for a five-year period ending December 31, 1995.