Most laypeople know Olympus as the champion of Micro Four Thirds, but those in the know are familiar with the fact that Olympus is actually a better medical device company than it is a camera company. In a stark dichotomy of fortunes, Olympus has been struggling to earn profits in the competitive digital camera landscape, but has remained the long-time market leader in endoscopes and endoscopic-related surgery equipment. In its 2012 fiscal year, Olympus reported a loss of $235 million USD for its camera division while producing net earnings of $890 million USD in medical related sales. Remember, this was in a “renaissance” year for the camera division, while it was riding the success of the OM-D E-M5 and Sony imaging sensors were breathing new life into their products.
In the wake of the accounting scandal of early 2012 many thought that Olympus would have spun off their camera division to preserve the profitable medical division, and were it not for a helping hand from Sony this might have been the case. Yet, despite all of this, Olympus still maintains a reputation as a “camera” company in the general public’s mind. The fact is, most of the major Japanese camera companies have medical divisions, with the exception of Nikon, which at one time did serve the ophthalmic community, but no more. As you would expect, Olympus’ commercial activities in the medical field revolve around optics and scopes, but extend far greater than that. Even more off the beaten-path, there are fewer still who are familiar with Olympus the medical company being involved in orthopaedics, which is another step removed from cameras and optics.
What’s also surprising to the uninitiated is that Olympus, despite its reputation in optics, is not a “medical imaging” company: it’s a full-blown surgical services supplier. When you think of imaging devices like X-rays, CT scanners and MRI machines, the actual dynamics of the market change and you’re in the territory of companies like Siemens and GE. However, when you look at the most frequently performed surgical procedures such as colonoscopies and laproscopic hernia repair, Olympus is often the company supplying the tools used in the diagnosis and treatment. Olympus is also something of a model for other Japanese camera companies. As the world market for digital cameras continues to weaken, other companies are looking enviously at Olympus’ continued performance in the medical sector.
