The Annual Business Appreciation Luncheon took place today at the Lake Forest Civic Center, and the city drew a full room of local business owners, community partners, and civic leaders. The event featured a Mini Taste of Lake Forest with food from local restaurants along with plenty of time to connect and network.
This year’s keynote speaker was Jeff Bechtold from Applied Medical. His presentation offered a rare look inside one of South Orange County’s most influential and quietly powerful companies. Applied Medical designs, develops, and manufactures minimally invasive surgical devices, and they do nearly all of it right here in our community. The company is known for its deep vertical integration. Components are molded, machined, assembled, sterilized, and distributed within a forty mile radius of its Lake Forest, Rancho Santa Margarita, and Irvine facilities. That level of control is unusual in the medical device world, where most competitors rely on overseas suppliers and fragmented manufacturing paths.
Jeff explained that Applied’s work is anchored in a central belief. If a company invests heavily, executes carefully, and keeps its processes internal, it can improve surgical outcomes for patients while also lowering the overall cost of healthcare. That belief drives every part of Applied’s model. It is why they manufacture their own molds, operate the largest injection molding facility west of the Mississippi, and build their own training systems for surgeons. It is also why they refuse to participate in the bundling tactics common in the industry. Applied allows hospitals to buy exactly what they want rather than forcing them into restrictive purchasing agreements. That single decision has driven down costs dramatically. In the U.S. trocar market alone, Jeff showed that hospitals save hundreds of millions of dollars each year because Applied broke open a space previously controlled through bundling.
Another major differentiator is the company’s commitment to research and development. About 20% of revenue goes directly into R & D. Most manufacturers spend a fraction of that. This investment keeps innovation in house, shortens supply chains, and gives Applied the ability to respond quickly to emerging clinical needs.
The company takes sustainability seriously as well. Its Lake Forest facilities include cogeneration systems that produce most of the electricity used on site. Rooftop solar systems continue to expand. Wastewater from certain manufacturing lines is reused for irrigation. Distribution centers are strategically located to reduce freight emissions. These details matter because Applied products travel only about forty miles from raw material to sterilized medical device, compared to thousands of miles for many competitors.
Jeff’s presentation highlighted how much Applied contributes to the local economy and to global healthcare. Their model proves that advanced manufacturing can thrive in South Orange County when a company is willing to invest, innovate, and stay committed to doing things the right way.
Anyone who attended today walked away with a clearer picture of how Applied operates and why it has become such a significant force in our region and in the medical device industry worldwide.
