* Headquartered in Chattanooga with eight subsidiaries across the country and in Europe.
* Started in September 1914 by George W. Fillauer Sr., who opened the business as Red Cross Pharmacy on Third Street across from Erlanger.
* In the late 1920s, the company became Fillauer Surgical and started its orthotic and prosthetic divisions.
* In 1972, the company merged with Durr Drug Co. and Durr-Fillauer went public.
* In 1993, Karl Fillauer bought the company and led the business through multiple acquisitions.
* Today, Karl Fillauer serves as chief executive. His two sons, Michael and David, are fourth generation leaders in the business.
Source: Fillauer Companes, news archives
Fillauer Companies are embarking on one of their biggest expansions in Chattanooga in the company's 101-year history as it shifts a key division from California to its home town.
The company, which produces orthotics and prosthetics, is bolstering its Chattanooga workforce by more than a third, creating up to 40 new jobs, and adding manufacturing space near its Amnicola Highway headquarters in a multimillion-dollar project.
"It just makes sense," Fillauer President Dennis Williams said.
Fillauer, which now employs 110 people in Chattanooga and nearly 300 worldwide, is closing its Hosmer facility in Campbell, Calif., in the Silicon Valley and relocating the work to the Scenic City, according to the company.
Williams said that consolidating manufacturing in Chattanooga will help the company reduce its costs.
"We've been in Chattanooga a long time, and we're familiar with the vendors," Williams said.
The business has leased 50,000 square feet of space in a nearby Amnicola Highway building, where it plans to manufacture the prosthetic hooks and an innovative ankle-foot product now made in California. Also, increasing other company-related operations here will create the remainder of the new jobs.
Erin Karnes, left, and her brother, Brandon Karnes, laminate a socket.Traci Dralle, Fillauer's director of marketing, said many of the positions are highly skilled slots. Salaries are expected to range from $18 per hour to $40 per hour, she said.
"There are a lot of benefits in Tennessee," Dralle said. "It's a good place to have a business. Chattanooga is a great city with a lot of smart growth."
Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said people tend to link innovation jobs to the computer world. But Fillauer shows the city can have an innovation economy around many kinds of business sectors, he said.
"We not only want to see more jobs, we want to see wages rise," the mayor said. "It shows we're bringing high-wage, high-skill jobs to our area. To me, it speaks to the importance of growing your own companies. This is a 100-year-old company growing in our city."
Bill Kilbride, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's chief executive, said Fillauer's move and expansion further proves the city's growing reputation as a medical technology center.
"We're looking forward to the opening of the renovated expansion location in June," he said.
Dralle said that in terms of jobs numbers, the increase is the biggest for the company in Chattanooga since the 1950s.
Plans are to relocate the California division this summer after the new space is remodeled and outfitted, she said. The new site also will hold research and development tasks, Dralle said.
Traci Dralle, Fillauer's director of marketing, talks about expansion of the company's Amnicola Highway manufacturing facility, where prosthetic hooks and an innovative ankle-foot product will be made in a 50,000-square-foot space nearby.Williams said the additional space, coupled with its existing 85,000 square feet, gives the business room to grow.
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development is providing $100,000 for job training, she said.
"Education is really, really important," Dralle said.
Dralle said the privately held Fillauer is the largest orthotics and prosthetics manufacturer based in the United States.
"We cover you from your hands to your toes," she said.
Dralle said business is good, though she declined to provide any financials. She said company officials see "lots of growth...new opportunities."
One of those involves 3-D printing of some of its products, which is seen as saving both time and money, Dralle said.
"New technology and new materials are big," she said, noting that the use of carbon fiber has been "a game-changer."
Dralle said that limb replacements due to diabetes-related medical issues is the No. 1 use for Fillauer products, though there are a lot of military veterans who utilize them as well.
A big industry change, she said, is the openness by which people wear Fillauer products. It's not uncommon, for example, to see custom-made limbs covered by University of Tennessee and other designs, Dralle said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.