DT News - UK - Interview: “We believe that the UK market has high potential for our products”

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 25 May 2017

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As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of gutta-percha and paper points, META BIOMED from South Korea is already a household name among dental professionals in Asia and the US. Recently, the company stepped up its business efforts in Europe with the opening of a regional office in Germany. At the British Dental Conference and Exhibition now on in Manchester, Dental Tribune Online had the opportunity to speak with Managing Director Ian Yun, who also heads the company’s US division, about its strategies and why the Brexit will make no difference to the company’s future expansion plans.

Dental Tribune Online: Mr Yun, your company is already active in many European markets, including the UK. How important is this region compared with your other key markets?
Ian Yun: While we have been serving customers in European countries for almost 27 years through qualified distributors, we recognised that the META BIOMED brand was still not widely known on the continent. Thus, we decided to change our strategy, with the first step being the opening of our European branch in Germany this year, to allow us to be closer to our customers here and support them better. For some of our most popular items, we now also offer fast delivery.

How is the market in Europe different from your home markets in Asia, for example?
We are still learning a great deal, but what we have found here is that medical device regulation is changing very rapidly. Serving countries with different languages and cultures is another challenge. However, we believe these challenges also bring opportunities, and we are ready to embrace them. Our motto for this year is “Challenge, change and competence”.

Europe already has some major providers of endodontic products. How do you think you will be able to compete?
Gutta-percha and paper points are clearly our strong areas, but we do offer an almost complete endodontic and restorative portfolio, including products for measuring, shaping, irrigating, obturation and restorations.

What are your long-term expansion plans for Europe?
Initially, we began with hiring salespeople in countries like Germany and Serbia, who will add to our existing salesforce for French- and Spanish-speaking countries. In order to strengthen our competitiveness, we are looking into opportunities to collaborate with European Union-based providers in terms of research and development and manufacturing. Partnerships with universities are also on our list.

Britain has recently started the process of leaving the EU. How do you regard this development, and will this have any impact on your strategy in Europe?
Regardless of the political situation, there will always be dentists and patients demanding good products for their treatment. Our company’s goal is to make treatment procedures quick and easy for the dentist and as painless as possible for the patient. We believe that the UK market, with its more than 30,000 general dental practitioners and specialists, has high potential for our products. We have a great partnership with our distributor Technical & General, from London, who also represents us at trade shows, like the British Dental Conference and Exhibition here in Manchester.

Thank you very much for the interview.

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