Rea Company History

Ragnar Sandstrom: a man with a vision
     

The history of Rea wheelchairs starts with humble beginnings worthy of a storybook. In the 1950's, a cabinet-maker called Ragnar Sandström lived in the small town of Diö in southern Sweden. Ragnar worked for a furniture company, Gemla Möbler, where, among other things, they made wooden wheelchairs.

Visionary and creative, Ragnar had many ideas and tried to persuade company management to invest in what he saw as the material of the modern age - steel tubing. Faced with disinterest and resistance, Ragnar began crafting pieces of furniture out of steel tubing from his garage at home.

He developed a foldable, tubular steel wheelchair, and founded Rea, basing the company name on his initials: Ragnar - Emil - Adrian. From a fledging operation the wheelchair business quickly took off and within a few years he had ten employees.

Soon outgrowing Ragnar's garage, in 1967 the small firm moved into a 1,000 m2 factory. This was extended in 1972 and again in 1976. The number of employees remained the same and they produced about 1,500 wheelchairs per year.

After a long and successful career, Ragnar sold his business to Mölnlycke AB in 1984.

Rea acquired by Mölnlycke

At the time of the acquisition in July 1985, the company had nine factory employees and five part-time home workers. Annual sales were around SEK 3 million and production averaged 1,500 wheelchairs a year. Sales were primarily to Sweden and Norway.

The Mölnlycke group had high hopes of entering the home healthcare market selling technical aids. Wheelchairs and hospital beds were to be their key products. In addition to the Rea wheelchair company, Mölnlycke acquired about ten other businesses, forming the Mölnlycke Mobility Division, whose subsidiaries manufactured and sold various home healthcare items. The aim was to provide customers with the complete spectrum of products ranging from dressings and incontinence pads to wheelchairs and beds.

Sales to Scandinavian countries increased, and took off in the Netherlands at the same time. A research and development department was set up in 1987, and the entire product range was blueprinted for the first time. Computers were introduced in 1988 together with a system to render production more efficient; new machines were purchased and new products launched.

In the early 1990s, Mölnlycke sold their Mobility division, along with the Rea wheelchair operation. Tenders were made by interested domestic and foreign parties and a deal was signed between Mölnlycke and the Danish NC-Nielsen group. On the day of the acquisition the number of employees totalled 45, with wheelchair production at 3,000 per year.

Rea comes under Danish ownership

The Danish group managers decided to restructure the old division and move production to Diö. In January 1991 they almost doubled the size of the business, building new offices and a 2,322 m2 factory for wheelchair production.

After the merger on January 1, 1992, over 70 employees produced 12,000 wheelchairs a year, with a turnover of SEK 73 million. Annual sales increased by an average of 20% over the years that followed.

With the new ownership came a new sales focus, particularly to countries with their own sales organizations such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. By year end 1997 sales had reached SEK 220 million, and the Diö plant employed 150 people.

During the 1990's the factory and offices were extended to handle increasing volumes, and production floor space increased by 4,270 m2!

Developing the Rea range

Until the early 1990's the company had only manufactured one wheelchair model - the Rea. Now a number of new, modern products were developed. The material was no longer restricted to steel, but included aluminium and titanium. In 1996 the Rea wheelchair was awarded ISO 9001 certification and all products since 1998 have been CE marked in accordance with the EU Medical Devices Directive.

Rea bought by Invacare

During the 1990's, the NC-Nielsen group changed its name to ‘Scandinavian Mobility' and enjoyed many successes; growth and earnings were high, and the company's achievements did not go unnoticed.

In the summer of 1999, an offer was made for the company. The American Invacare Corporation, a global leader in home medical equipment for the functionally impaired, became the new owner.

Invacare Corporation has its own sales organizations in 17 European countries, along with nine factories manufacturing manual and power wheelchairs, lifters and bed systems, pressure and posture care products.

Rea Stolen AB is now known as Invacare Rea AB, and continues to have good volume growth. Our products measure up well against international comparison, and we devote many resources to research and development.

Looking to the future

The manual wheelchair market is growing. Happily, people are living longer, although many of us need help getting around later in life. We are surrounded by countries with underdeveloped handicap aids which mean new opportunities for our products. In addition, wheelchairs are consumer durables that need to be replaced from time to time - even the Diö models!

The prospects for developing Invacare Rea AB are strong, not only in countries where Invacare already enjoys good market share, but outside of these markets, where great potential has been identified.

The business concept focuses on a broad range of manual wheelchairs and is based on a command of the complete chain, from understanding customer needs to research and development, marketing and sales.

The key to success lies with delivering products that meet the high standards and demands of today's customers, which is what we have done and will continue to strive to do.

From humble beginnings in a cabinet-maker's garage to a global brand that improves people's lives around the world, the history of Rea is a tale of success, and one which looks set to continue.