• Download/View Star Tribune PDF

New capital and management have given a business making air-ambulance equipment a lift off the ground.

Dean Atchison was a banker who spent a decade looking for the right business to buy. Last year, he finally pulled the trigger and purchased an air-medical and ambulance-equipment manufacturer teetering on bankruptcy.

That might seem like an odd choice to launch a new career as owner and CEO. But in Spectrum Aeromed, Atchison saw a company rich in expertise, history and potential.

“Spectrum Aeromed was essentially bankrupt,” Atchison said. “We knew we were buying a very troubled, undercapitalized company. It had good products that were well engineered. What the company lacked was a business strategy and leadership acumen.”

Atchison bought Spectrum in June 2007, and this year, the Fargo, N.D., firm expects sales to hit $4.5 million, compared with $875,000 in 2007. Spectrum employs 16 people to make customized medical equipment for aircraft ranging from helicopters to the Boeing 757. Clients include North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, the Canadian armed forces and United Arab Emirates royalty.

One of Atchison’s first moves as CEO was to hire his brother Scott, a doctor, as medical director. Spectrum had a strong engineering and aircraft background, but needed medical expertise to better serve the needs of hospitals and medical centers, Atchison said.

For example, the company helped Intermountain Healthcare of Salt Lake City design and outfit an airborne intensive care unit that could treat multiple patients. Spectrum also makes “quick-change modules” to help crews quickly reconfigure aircraft space to accommodate the right medical equipment.

Atchison also decided to move Spectrum’s headquarters from an industrial park in Wheaton, Minn., to Hector International Airport in Fargo. The 14,500-square-foot hangar and office space, which houses the company’s manufacturing facility, will allow Spectrum to better serve international customers who can fly larger aircraft directly to the airport, he said. The company, which already has strong relationships in the Middle East, is eying opportunities in Russia and South America.

Atchison said he plans to invest more money in research and development. He wants to partner with universities and colleges to develop lighter and stronger composite materials that will reduce the weight of Spectrum’s systems from 120 pounds to 75 to 80 pounds. Lighter equipment is especially important for smaller aircraft such as helicopters that have limited space and lifting power.

Article by Thomas Lee, Star Tribune