We’re pleased to announce the new Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) Southern Regional Series exposition and conference coming to Fort Worth, Texas in 2012.

Now more than ever, maintaining current business and fostering new opportunities is necessary to stay in front of the economic curve. Unlike some markets, the medical manufacturing industry is still healthy and growing–and is forecasted to continue growing into the foreseeable future.

Medical product manufacturing is a $5 billion Texas industry and includes medical devices, electromedical and electrotherapeutic equipment and systems, invitro diagnostics, and associated healthcare supplies. From 2000 through 2008, venture capital firms invested roughly $537 million in Texas medtech. Leading companies in the area include  Abbott,  Bayer,  Cardinal  Health, Medtronic, Pfizer, Siemens, St. Jude, Smith & Nephew, Stryker, and Zimmer, to name a few.

Attendees to the show will include R&D managers, design engineers, production/manufacturing managers, manufacturing engineers, product managers, project managers, purchasing managers, and QA/QC staff. Exhibitors are suppliers of the materials, software, manufacturing machinery, components, subassemblies, and contract services used to design and produce medical devices.

According to the 2008 Annual Survey of Manufacturers released by the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas is ranked number one nationally in both the value of annual shipments and materials purchased used in production. It holds the number two ranking (after California) in the number of manufacturing employees, annual payroll, and outlays for capital equipment. Texas manufacturers employ more than 850,000 people with an annual payroll of $42.78 billion. They spend more than $450 billion on materials used in production and make annual investments in capital equipment of $17.61 billion in operations that yield sales volume of $643.89 billion. According to economic development groups in Dallas and Fort Worth, DFW has the largest concentration of manufacturing jobs in the state and accounts for more than one-third of the industrial output.