IDEXX's International Strategy Wins Accolades

IDEXX Laboratories, which started in downtown Portland, ME, with seven employees and now has a work force of more than 3,000 around the world, does not simply export its products: it often custom-designs them to meet the needs of its overseas customers.

This helps explains why the firm has been chosen by the Maine International Trade Center as the Exporter of the Year.

Each year the trade center presents awards to five companies or individuals who have had a significant effect on Maine’s economy through international trade or investment. The exporter it chose to honor this year, IDEXX, is a global leader in veterinary medicine, serving the companion-animal and livestock markets. Now headquartered in Westbrook, the company was founded 20 years ago.

IDEXX has made international markets a focus of its strategy, and in 2004 approximately 15 percent of the firms' total revenue was attributed to exports. The trade center further recognized IDEXX for their commitment to innovative diagnostic research and development, including rapid tests for infectious bovine diseases and water quality test kits.