With million-dollar robotic-surgery systems grabbing headlines and high-tech, high-dollar scanners playing a growing role in medicine, an improved design in surgical tables or lighting may not seem very exciting.

But for an increasing number of companies in the Charleston area, such seemingly dull hardware means something very exciting indeed: growing sales. About a half-dozen companies locally assemble and sell the kind of medical equipment that helps get patients in and out of operating rooms and radiology labs, helps doctors see inside them during surgery, and keeps them connected to monitors and oxygen tubes in intensive-care units.

The number of such companies here has gone up just in the past year, and more of them may be coming soon if economic-development officials are successful. Luring them to the Charleston area are the usual suspects in corporate relocations: the Port of Charleston, the region's much-touted quality of life and a variety of government incentives.

In the case of the health care equipment industry, there are other additional factors: Charleston is a blossoming hub of medical research centered around the state-run Medical University of South Carolina. Then there is the growing presence of private hospitals - including two new ones planned for Mount Pleasant - as well as other smaller health care providers.

Perhaps best-known locally among these equipment makers is Berchtold Corp., the U.S. operation of a company based in Germany. The Hanahan Road headquarters is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and according to Richard M. "Ric" Rumble, company president, the business is going strong. "The company employs 200 today, with half of that here in Charleston," he said. More growth is projected for Berchtold, he added. "We are bursting at the seams," Rumble said. "It's been four or five years since we last expanded. We do intend to start a construction project in 2008."

Age factor

The industry as a whole is experiencing steady growth, said Andy Reding, general director of Trumpf Medical Systems, also a unit of a German company. Its office off Clements Ferry Road is Trumpf's North American headquarters. What's behind the growth, Reding explained, is a surge in construction of hospitals and other health care facilities, driven in part by the aging of the nation's population.

"Health care construction drives a lot of the demand for equipment," he said. "Some $200 billion is projected to be spent in the next decade on hospital construction." Trumpf, Reding said, is "definitely outpacing the market and gaining market share."

Like Berchtold, Trumpf has plans to grow its local operation, including its current 12-worker payroll in Charleston. "We're space-constrained," he said. "We're going to have to significantly renovate this facility or build some new space."

One of the newest arrivals is Belimed USA, which is in the process of moving its headquarters here from Miami. Company President Joe McDonald, who like Trumpf's Reding is a former Berchtold executive, expects the company's local work force to number between 40 and 45 out of a total U.S. payroll of about 85. Belimed, the U.S. unit of a Swiss company, has "a relatively low market share in the U.S., so there's a tremendous opportunity for growth," McDonald said.

Also, he noted, Belimed designs and sells equipment for pharmaceutical and biotechnology laboratories in addition to hospital equipment. "It's a smaller market, but it's growing," McDonald said. "That area separates us from Trumpf, Berchtold, Hill-Rom."

But like those competitors, Belimed also has plans to expand its operations in Charleston. "Our strategic plan does include building some manufacturing capacity here," McDonald said. "We intend to begin the process within the next quarter. We'll do it incrementally, starting with some subassemblies. There will be some employment opportunities."

Right equipment

With these companies planning to hire more workers and spinning off jobs in construction as they expand, it's not surprising that local economic development officials are pleased with the performance of this industry "cluster." And there may be more to come.

David Ginn, president and chief executive officer of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, has been helping pitch the three local counties as a business destination to employers such as Trumpf and Belimed. Other unidentified medical equipment companies that his group is courting are considering the region for investments, he said. "Of our top 24 ... prospects, we do have some in this sector," Ginn said. "It is an ongoing, active market for us."

Charleston's attractions for business are well-known, but Ginn noted that the medical equipment trade is an especially appealing sector for Charleston. For one thing, it pays well, he noted. Also, "It is a clean industry, one that's healthy for the environment," he said.

It's also an industry that, in its own way, is helping sell the Charleston area to other companies. Berchtold, Trumpf and Belimed all have showrooms at their local facilities, where they bring in prospective customers from all over the United States. They also play host to their own out-of-town sales representatives and service technicians for training. In addition, all three do a considerable amount of product design and customization at their headquarters, which also means bringing clients to Charleston.

The design side of the equipment business may be getting a big boost soon. Industry executives are excited by a proposal being advanced by Joseph G. "Jerry" Reves, dean of the College of Medicine at MUSC, and David Allison, a professor of architecture at Clemson University and director of graduate studies in architecture and health. Their proposal is to create an endowed chair in operating-room design at MUSC. Such a program would give the Charleston area added visibility as the nation's hospital-building boom goes forward.

One reason why such a program would be a boost for the industry in Charleston is that it could help hospital companies increase the efficiency and profitability of their operating rooms. That's always an important consideration, but especially as health care companies increasingly invest big money in construction and expensive technology.

One example is the use of "interoperative" equipment - or equipment that can be used at different stages of the surgical process, said Reding, the Trumpf executive. One example: a table that can be used in the preoperation stage, then wheeled into the operating room and used as the operating table. By eliminating the need to move a patient multiple times before surgery, such equipment can save time and reduce injuries. "There are probably only a half-dozen of these interoperative suites in the country, but it's picking up very quickly," Reding said.

With a cluster of established equipment makers in the area and with MUSC and Clemson making a push from the academic side, Reding believes Charleston soon could become one of the nation's foremost centers for operating design.

"As this cluster grows, it may get to the point where nobody in the U.S. builds an operating room without coming to Charleston because of all the great experience and expertise here," he said. "That's my goal."