BD Overview

Maxwell W. Becton and Fairleigh S. Dickinson met on a sales trip in 1897. Months later, with a handshake and a simple business philosophy - "a guarantee of superiority" - they founded BD, a medical device importing firm in New York City. In 1906, they incorporated in New Jersey. One year later they built a factory in East Rutherford, the first plant in the United States dedicated to the manufacture of hypodermic needles and syringes. The company designed most of its own machinery and manufacturing processes and for many years was the only firm in the industry with fully automated needle-manufacturing facilities.

When World War I halted imports of medical supplies from Europe, the company expanded its domestic manufacturing operations. Sales of syringes and thermometers grew, and the catalog offered other medical supplies, such as the well-known Ace elastic bandage. BD survived the Great Depression and continued to prosper. During World War II, the company developed such innovative products as the first disposable blood donor kit for the American Red Cross and the BD Vacutainer blood collection system.

Henry P. Becton joined his father's company in 1937, and five years later, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. began working at BD. In 1948, control of the company passed to the founders' sons. Product lines were broadened, new businesses acquired and the company expanded both nationally and internationally. The second generation guided BD through the "disposables revolution," taking the company public in 1962 to obtain adequate financing for the huge investments in equipment for manufacturing sterile disposable medical products.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, the Company diversified within the healthcare industry, sustaining leadership in the medical device market while expanding into diagnostics and life science research. In 1962, BD became a publicly held corporation. The 1980s brought a major restructuring and establishment of BD as a multinational force in healthcare. In the 1990s, BD adapted to the fundamental changes affecting the way healthcare is practiced around the world. It refined its structure, focused its research efforts and developed partnerships with large, integrated healthcare systems to ensure delivery of the highest-quality care at the lowest-possible cost.

BD has emerged as a global medical technology company with $7.8 billion in sales in fiscal year 2011. BD offers a wide range of products to help diagnose and treat patients, protect healthcare workers and provide tools for medical research. Through a century of growth, the company's commitment to raising the quality of healthcare worldwide has remained constant. The founders' passion for excellence is still reflected in the dedication of more than 29,000 associates around the world who work with the same attention to quality and spirit of caring to bring miracles of modern medical technology to millions of people.

BD Milestones

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