Galway Advertiser 2007/2007_03_15/GA_1503_E1_122.pdf 

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122

BUSINESS & APPOINTMENTS

March 15 2007

HEADS & TALES
A series of interviews with Galway's leading business personalities -- written by Alison Herbert

Starting with the end in mind
Noel Fogarty, MD, Boston Scientific
As the west of Ireland's biggest employer, supporting a staff of 3,000, Boston Scientific plays an enormous part in many people's lives -- and not just employees. As the world's biggest medical device manufacturer, cardiologists, surgeons and patients all have a vested interest in what is going on inside this 24/6 plant that is bigger than some small Irish towns. Since its opening in 1994 with some 500 staff, Boston Scientific has enjoyed meteoric success in terms of employment and innovation. While the Galway plant produces the widest variety of medical device products, such as balloon catheters, it is the production of stents that has earmarked Galway out as a world leader. Stents are small devices used to keep open blocked or obstructed blood vessels, and while their most common use is with coronary arteries, they are also widely used to treat other blockages in areas such as the trachea, the oesophagus, and the colon. The use of stents allows for a minimallyinvasive form of surgery, replacing the once highly-invasive open-heart surgery. While we all hope that we will never need to avail of surgery to open blockages, we must also be realistic. An increasingly aged population, high stress levels, poor diet, and genetics will lead some of us directly to the operating theatre where one of these little stent devices will save our lives. When our arteries block we are in big trouble -- strokes and heart attacks are the obvious outcomes. Boston Scientific's latest drug-eluting stents are inserted into the arteries and remain there, eluting drugs to keep the channels to our heart open. So advanced is the coronary angioplasty procedure surrounding these life-saving stents that patients can be out of hospital and on the road to recovery the next day after surgery. Engineers, product builders, R&D specialists, and scientists are just some of the varied work positions at Boston Scientific, and the Galway plant is now the world's biggest facility for drug-eluting stents, which are now conceived, designed, and manufactured on-site. This new type of stent has been on the market since 2003 and is aeons away from original procedures that had to be removed from the body after surgery. "The original metal stent had only an 80 per cent success rate for patients, and before that surgeons were implanting balloon catheters with only a 50 per cent success rate, so we have certainly come a long way. I am particularly proud that `Taxus', our drug-eluting stent, which has more than half of the 4.5 billion market, was devised in its entirety -- from R&D to manufacture -- here in Galway, and we are already heavily involved in `next generation' products for the company," states MD Noel Fogarty. Noel, originally an electronic engineer, has been with Boston Scientific for the past five years, before which he worked for 20 years in the electronic sector with a number of companies in Zimbabwe, Singapore, and Europe, as well as in Dublin's Motorola plant for 10 years. "When I graduated from NUIG I was offered employment immediately with Digital in Galway, but instead took up a scholarship opportunity to work in the electronics industry in Japan for over two years -- an extraordinary experience, professionally and culturally. At that time there were only 200 Irish living in Japan and 50 of those were priests, so I used to get invited to all sorts of events as the Irish
Noel Fogarty

`The key to continued growth is to listen to what people have to say, and then include their ideas to formulate plans'

representative." In 1979 John Abele and Pete Nicholas founded the Boston Scientific HQ, located in Boston, and the Galway plant is considered very much a flagship company of the 20 world-wide plants. When production capacity was transferred from the Boston facility in the 1990s; the corporation looked to Galway to deliver on its manufacturing requirements. The five Irish plants in Cork, Tullamore, Letterkenny, Clonmel, and Galway now produce 40 per cent of Boston Scientific's world-wide capacity. In a $180 billion total world-wide medical device industry Ireland is renowned as being one of the world's main producers, with seven of the top 10 companies located here. "Although Boston Scientific is aggressive in its competitive stand globally, as our competitors would be, we collaborate locally in the best interests of the industry," states Noel. "As chairman of the Irish Medical Devices Association, I can confirm that

all the Galway medical device companies enjoy the benefits from clustering in one location. Eighty per cent of all medical device companies in Ireland have R&D functions here -- a reflection of the population skillbase." Boston Scientific's speciality may be cardiovascular therapy, in itself worth $15 billion, but innovating companies stay ahead of the posse by doing just that -- innovating. So, as part of Boston Scientific's growth strategy it acquired the medical device company `Guidant'. This allowed Boston Scientific to access `Guidant's cardiac rhythmic products such as pacemakers and defibrillators. Boston Scientific is keen to give back to Galway. "We take corporate responsibility seriously here and our staff get actively involved in fundraising each year. Since 2005 our employees have raised an impressive

200,000 for local charities. "Tonight in fact we are staging a Stars in Their Eyes talent competition in the Salthill Hotel as a fund-raiser for the National Breast Cancer Research Institute and for the Galway Rape Crisis Centre. Some of our very talented staff are transforming themselves into Tina Turner, Garth Brooks, The Blues Brothers, Joe Dolan, Dolly Parton, Snow Patrol, and Whitney Houston. Another employee, Chris Mahoney, is contributing to our charities by selling his collection of paintings in the plant." Noel admits that he has come full circle in his work life. His career started up in Japan; he currently travels to the States about 10 times a year on Boston Scientific business, and has enjoyed working in several interesting countries over the past 20 years. He lives in Salthill, his

birthplace, with his wife Cathriona, two children, seven year-old Oisin, and four year-old Anna. Noel's dad was a well-known Galway face, having worked for over 40 years in the wellknown city centre store Corbetts. "I always wanted to be an engineer, even when I was at St Mary's College, and I strongly feel that an engineering training gives you the flexibility and analysis to turn your hand to different industries. "I concur with Stephen Covey in his best-seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People -- start with the end in mind and work from there. I find the medical device industry fascinating, am learning every day and am supported by a terrific team. I'd hope that my input would help ensure that the Galway facility will continue to lead the way in medical technology advances. "The key to continued growth is to listen to what people have to say, and then include their ideas to formulate plans. My two main aims are to create a culture that will instil the importance of meeting our commitments in business, and secondly, to focus around our new products pipeline. We can use our high standard of R&D and manufacturing here to innovate and bring new technologies to the marketplace. We need to be the best at what we do and I believe Boston Scientific is unrivalled in that." Boston Scientific trains, empowers, mentors, and rotates its employees, allowing for continual development and also runs a successful graduate programme. "Locally, Boston Scientific brings in medics regularly to the plants from around the world to showcase what we do and in turn we get a chance to discuss the implications of our products for the patients. In Galway we place a huge emphasis on communication to ensure our employees have up to the minute information on what's going on. "It's very important for all of us to hear first hand how our products directly affect the quality of people's lives. One of our own staff's lives was saved last year by a Boston Scientific product -- a stent that he personally had a hand in making. "I love a challenge -- personally, in business and in sport. I enjoy a weekly game of golf at Salthill and go to Pearse Stadium and the Sportsground as often as possible. I believe that our employees enjoy a challenge too and I'm confident that they will successfully embrace the many challenges that lie ahead."