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Mr. Aldo Bachetti, a former European Middle-weight boxing champion came to South Africa from Italy in 1945 just after the Second World War on a Government Immigration Incentive Program and first worked at the Government "Limb Factory" in End Street, Johannesburg.
In 1965, Mr. Bachetti left the Limb Factory and opened Orthopaedic Suppliers one block away on the corner of Bree and Nugget Streets, making it the fourth private "Orthopaedic Workshop" in Johannesburg. To date, Orthopaedic Suppliers is the longest surviving Orthotic and Prosthetic company still trading under it's original name.
In 1967 Mr. Bachetti decided to go back to Italy for family reasons and Messrs Frank Dreyer and Mark Hancock purchased Orthopaedic Suppliers (Pty) Ltd. from him. In 1969, Mr. Ted Greene (the Son of the owner of United States Manufacturing Company - USMC) had just arrived in Johannesburg on an overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town and noticed the Orthopaedic Suppliers sign on the corner of Bree and Nugget Streets and decided to pay them a visit. At the end of the meeting it was arranged that Orthopaedic Suppliers would represent USMC in South Africa and this started the wholesale side of Orthopaedic Suppliers.
In 1972, Mr. Hancock sold his share of Orthopaedic Suppliers to Mr. Dreyer and moved to Durban where he opened his own Orthopaedic Workshop. In 1987 Mr. Dreyer decided to emigrate to Australia with his family and sold his interest to a consortium of six Orthotic and Prosthetic practitioners managed by Mr. Errol Lishman.
Over the years, all the consortium members were bought out leaving Mr. Lishman as managing member and Mr. Giel Bezuidenhout as managing financial officer. In 1989 the existing patient-care facility was sold off and Orthopaedic Suppliers became a pure Orthotic and Prosthetic wholesale company. Since 1988 Mr. Lishman and his team added many other quality agencies to the portfolio of companies represented.
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In 2003, Mr. Lishman bought Mr. Bezuidenhout out and the company was owned by Mr. Errol Lishman (managing), Mrs. Ann Lishman (administration), Mrs. Carla Potgieter (marketing) and Mrs. Antoinette Singh (Stock Control). In November 2004 Mr. Lishman left Orthopaedic Suppliers to pursue a yachting career leaving Mrs. Ann Lishman as Managing Member.
Orthopaedic Suppliers has grown steadily over the years to become a premier Orthotic and Prosthetic Wholesale Facility in Southern Africa.
We are a founder member of A.O.P.P.P. (Association of Orthotic and Prosthetic Private Practitioners), now South African Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (S.A.O.P.A.), and a member of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce.
There are three main parts to our company:
* A wholesale division
* An export department
* A product development team
Our Wholesale Division is responsible for the marketing of our imported and locally produced products.
Our Product Development team is always involved in designing, improving and perfecting products for distribution. Quality control and cost-effective products are as important to us as they are to our customers.
Copyright © Orthopaedic Suppliers 1997 - ***