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Company History

Introduction

Bristol-based company Limbs & Things Ltd. was established in 1990 by Margot Cooper to serve the needs of hands-on medical education and training. The objective of the Company has been to establish an international reputation in training models and simulators, based on dedication to superior innovation, and excellence in all aspects of design, manufacture and customer service. The business was incorporated on December 1, 1991.

The ethical nature of the products inspire a particularly happy and motivated work force and a high level of commitment from the network of suppliers and customers with whom the Company works.

Background

Margot Cooper has been a member of the UK Medical Artists Association since 1968 and is currently president of the European Association of Medical and Scientific Illustrators. Through her work in the area of medical education she identified a growing need for a form of training away from patients, cadavers and animals. The rapid development of Minimal Access Surgery (keyhole surgery), day surgery, patients charter and reduced hospital hours were just some of the factors influencing a movement toward a new way of gaining skills. She therefore decided to specialize in 3-dimensional models and started trading as Limbs & Things Ltd. to establish a commercial presence in this field.

The Company quickly identified a major opportunity in development of materials, and of molding and casting techniques to allow soft tissue to be simulated effectively. In the first years of the Company's operation, substantial resources were invested in developing and refining materials and techniques for the simulation of skin and connective tissue and soft tissue generally. The Company now has a proprietary technology which is considered to be ahead of any other in the world in this field.

The Technology

Limbs & Things Ltd. has a strong team of medical sculptors, engineers and technicians whose particular approach to designing materials and models for structured training is based on careful analysis of the ergonomics involved in the specific skill to be acquired, and who are working in close collaboration with the specialist production personnel. This leads to economies in design and allows structured training systems to be devised for various levels of practice in different disciplines.

Now product design is carried out on computers and manufacturing methods of rapid prototyping are employed at the prototype stage.

A sister company, Medical Skills, was created to design and manufacture CD-ROM and model-based self-directed learning systems in core skills such as stitching.

The Company has retained complete control of all relevant technology and requires all its personnel and sub-contractors to enter into confidentiality undertakings and assignments of intellectual property rights.

Limbs & Things Ltd. has been granted a significant patent in the area of technology for simulating skin, and the method of casting it into shapes. A further patent has been granted in respect of a skills training system based on the Limbs & Things approach to structured training.

Evaluation in the Field

From the outset, the Company has been operating in an emerging market, the growth of which has been largely reliant on the presence of these models and simulators. Products are developed in collaboration with medical specialists so that anatomical detail and both medical and surgical conditions are reproduced as accurately as can be achieved with the available materials. All materials are non-biological so that the products can be used in all markets, taking account of legal and ethical considerations affecting the use of materials derived from human or animal sources.

Prototype models, developed in collaboration with top surgeons and clinicians, are evaluated in the clinical environment, and it is only after complete satisfaction in the evaluation process that the design is frozen and product moves into production.

Manufacturing for the World Market

The products apply across a wide range of activities within medicine:- Nursing, Undergraduate, Post graduate, Surgery and Clinical training, Urology, Orthopedic Ultrasound, Midwifery and Trauma.

Products are sold, through an international distributor network to universities world-wide including Canada, USA, South America, South Africa, France, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Australia and Germany.

Comprehensive training of distributors is undertaken by the Company and this covers the full range of products which are listed in Limbs & Things' Catalogues.

Limbs & Things presence in the market is underlined by active participation in international exhibitions. Margot Cooper and other senior members of the Company's Sales and Marketing Group are often invited to speak at medical meetings in different countries.

Awards

The Company received the Frank Netter Award for Special Contribution to Medical Education in 1994 in the United States. It was selected to be part of a European Union trade mission to Japan in 1997.

Limbs & Things received a Millennium Product Award in 1999.

Limbs & Things has been and continues to be recognized as a Company which has addressed the changing educational needs of the medical profession and is supplying goods in order that those engaged in the training of medicine are able to acquire skills in an efficient, safe and effective way.