challenge of working in other fields, How would you describe the company such as medical or aeronautics, is both DNA? stimulating and very useful for cultivating The company DNA is a blend of everything excellence in our own fields. The relationship I mentioned, though I would also add the between all of these businesses makes us philosophy of commitment. We work in a more competitive. We are now also able field full of constant challenges, where we to offer implants, customized prostheses have to know when to step back and take a produced using a comprehensive, fully hard look at ourselves, and when to put digital workflow, and the motors and forth continual effort. In order to succeed, contra-angles to set them! the primary fuel that drives us is commitment. The relationship The company grew from 200 to 400 between all of our employees in just a few years, a clear sign of success. How did you do it? businesses makes First, we conducted a thorough evaluation!All indicators said that the implant industry us more competitive. was about to skyrocket and that therewas room for small companies. With its industrial expertise and experience in What is your take on the company’s both R&D and marketing, Anthogyr had history? everything it needed to initiate, sustain, We are 70 years old. The journey begun and guide strong growth in the sector. Of course we had to get organized and put by the Anthoine family in 1947 has been in enormous effort to master the market. a wonderful one. The company has With instruments, the marketing is less undergone steady, robust growth in the sophisticated—the manufacturer deals past few decades. It has an established with distributors and importers. But in the reputation for quality and, even more dental implant business, the manufacturer remarkably, went international very early, works directly with doctors. We had to in the 1960s to be exact. Another thing shift gears from a B2B structure to a B2C3 4 that stands out to me is that the company structure, which required us to reinvent has always focused on industry, ourselves. In this industry, to succeed at demonstrating extreme technical sales, you have to be able to serve, guide, expertise very early on. Finally, its ability and train dental surgeons and prosthetists. to take its products to the next level very Anthogyr had to switch from an industry that quickly, thanks to its R&D department as uses the MRP (material resources planning) of 2002, is proof of its characteristic system, where the flow is pushed outwards, momentum and energy. to an industry where the customer drives the demand. It was like learning a whole How did the company weather new trade! Finally, the change in focus the economic crash in 2008? resulted in the company taking control The crash happened at the same time of the whole value chain. Value was added that we were redirecting our focus to at all levels, which allowed Anthogyr to implantology, so we weren’t about to let go control its costs. people whom we had just hired and trained, people whose careers we had just helped Can you talk more about the company’s to start, and who held all the knowledge internationalization? we needed. The company did not lay off any Our decision to focus on implants has employees or send anyone home because been largely validated within France, but of the lack of activity. Instead, we took it has yet to be validated internationally. advantage of the time to make inventory Anthogyr has a long reputation in the and provide training. It was a tough time, dental world, but our reputation in but we managed the crisis, guided by our implantology hasn’t spread much beyond long-term vision. France’s borders. And yet, getting to a 3Business to business / Business to customer4 90