At AMD LASERS in Indianapolis, the first thing that hits you when you walk through the door is the mood: hang on, this is going to be intense. The place is buzzing with excitement, the employees are on fire with enthusiasm, and the phones never stop ringing. A tour quickly reveals that their laser facility is high-tech, the company is talent-packed, and everything from design to production happens at a lightning pace. Should you have the opportunity to meet President/CEO Alan Miller, however, things really start to get interesting.
The Swiss Army knife of his company, doing anything and everything, Miller holds countless professional and personal titles and travels the world as casually as most of us grocery shop. An ordinary day is a rarity for him, and late nights and long weekends are the norm. When I was scheduling our appointment, I was told he was doing a day trip to Asia and would be back on Friday. Day trip to Asia? You've got to be kidding me!
With his work hard/play hard ethic, Miller isn't just competitive in business. He's also the US Pro National Champion jet ski racer, plays competitive tennis, and enjoys kitesurfing, snowboarding, and skydiving across the globe. In person, Miller more than lives up to the hype while coming across as highly personable and even humble. Here's some of our conversation….
MR: You've got the whole rock star aura going on here. Tell me about your background.
AM: Yeah-the rock star of nerds! I guess you can say I grew up very Midwestern with Midwest values–I actually lived within a few minutes of where we sit right now. My parents always pushed us to be competitive and to work hard even at very young ages. Cutting grass so I could buy and build remote-controlled cars and airplanes was my passion! I also loved being involved in Boy Scouts. So, I guess I was kind of a nerd back then, too. People ask me what I do, and when I tell them I build lasers, they just don't believe me. My family is full of dentists, nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals, so I've spent 27 years in the healthcare arena–one that I love. I've spent my last 10 years in lasers.
MR: Your facility is impressive. People might not realize there are such high-tech companies in Indiana.
AM: Right. Indianapolis has actually become quite the hub of bioscience and biotechnology. We have a low cost of living, a great work ethic, and a great gene pool of university talent to choose from, such as Purdue for engineering, Indiana University for healthcare, and Notre Dame for management, which leads to a winning combination. Under our roof we have a very international organization with backgrounds from France, Russia, Israel, Peru, Germany, Poland, and South America. Lots of languages spoken here—which really gives us an advantage in the worldwide market. We own this facility, and it houses all three of our laser companies: AMD LASERS, National Laser Technology, and the International Center for Laser Education (ICLE). This gives us a huge advantage in keeping overhead down, accelerating research and development, and providing unsurpassed support to our customers.
MR: Tell me more about the people here.
AM: Our organizations are fully stocked with talent from around the world, and I am so proud of everyone here. I have surrounded myself with much, much smarter and more talented people than myself. It really makes my job a lot easier when I can rely upon each team member to do what it takes to get the job done. No egos, just great people working very long hours. It's funny because we are open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm EST, five days a week. However, it's very common to see lots of people here on the weekends. Our production team was working seven days a week for a while to get us caught up on a huge amount of back orders. We also have a laser hygienist on staff, and our medical director, Dr. James Jesse, and our clinical director, Dr. Glenn van As, are two of the most respected laser dentists in the world!
MR: I have heard you like to repeat a certain saying. What is it?
AM: "One Vision-One Goal." Simply put, it means a laser in every operatory. Every day we get closer to that goal. When I introduced Picasso, I knew we had an instant winner, but I am even more excited about the new version-Picasso Lite. It is 2.5 watts, has 3 presets, a 2-year warranty, both continuous and pulse modes, adjustable aiming beam, is the absolutely easiest laser to operate and, at $2,495, we are expecting to sell close to 50,000 units this year. Lasers are the right modality of choice in medicine and in dentistry. The only other choices are electro-surge and scalpels, and now there is a much more patient-friendly way — lasers. The only obstacle has been price. I am proud that we have removed that obstacle for dentistry.
MR: What about your donations? Your sales manager suggested you like to give everything away for free.
AM: Dentists have been very good to me—so why not give back? Look, when things are great for you or your company, it makes sense to donate what you can, so that's what I've been doing. There are free Picassos all over the world—in monasteries, missions, universities, and dental clinics, and when good causes have needed cash, we have given it to them.
MR: Tell me about "lasing for a cause."
AM: One of my best friends suffered from breast cancer over the last two years, and she is a survivor, but the operations she has had to undergo were just terrible. It was a challenging time for her and her family. I wanted to support the National Breast Cancer Foundation. In addition to providing a $15,000 donation through June of this year, I created a version of the new Picasso Lite in pink to recognize how important it is to help when you can. I started "lasing for a cause" in this effort. More than 50% of graduating dentists are female, and most staff members and hygienists are female, so it's important to me to recognize all dental professionals that may have had breast cancer or may have known someone that has.
MR: 2009 was a record-breaking year for you. What about 2010 and beyond?
AM: 2009 was an unbelievable experience. We have Picassos in over 50 countries, worldwide support from our distributors, and an alliance of dentists promoting laser dentistry that is second to none. 2010 is starting off with a bang for our new soft tissue laser-Picasso Lite. It's geared towards first-time laser dentists and hygienists and is priced to replace electrosurge, so sales should be well over a hundred million. We are committed to providing free lasers to all of the universities, and I am deeply committed to giving back to our community. We will continue to grow ICLE as the place to get high-quality, low-cost laser education, and to cap off the year we should have our hard tissue laser ready for release in Q4. There are also other technologies that I think would be a good fit for our business philosophy.
MR: Can you expand a little?
AM: Our business model is based on innovation. We apply the business practices of Apple, Toyota, Virgin and other excellent companies to give our clients the best of the best. At the same time, we are offering paradigm-shifting products that blow conventional products out of the water because of our packaging and price points. There are other great technologies in dentistry that could be a good fit for us, such as 3D cone beam imaging and CAD/CAM milling machines. As far as 2011 and beyond, I am most excited about the use of nanotechnology in fine-tuning laser wavelengths and giving very specific results in medicine and dentistry. Every day there is a new challenge and opportunity for innovation. I feel so blessed every day I wake up.