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Corporate Profile: GC America by Benjamin Lund, Editor, Dentaltown Magazine

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by Benjamin Lund, Editor, Dentaltown Magazine

Semui is a term that literally means "There is no fear if you do nothing for your own sake." GC America operates on this customer-driven R&D model. We sat down with Director of Sales and Marketing, Scott Bradshaw, to talk about GC America's motivation and mission.

For the uninitiated, can you please tell us briefly about the history of GC America? When did the company begin? What was the company's goal?
Bradshaw: Coe Laboratories, which has been an industry mainstay since the 1920s was acquired by the GC Corporation in Japan, and in 1992 GC America was established. GC is a global company with technology, R&D and innovation at its core. GC is the largest dental manufacturer in Japan and our global philosophy is to develop new products for the good of others. In other words, all of our products are developed with the customers' needs in mind.

How has GC America evolved over the years?
Bradshaw: From innovative new products, to filling the gaps in already-existing product categories, GC has been on the forefront in new product development. For example, many GC products were the first of their kind in the industry and are still being used today. GC's EXA impression materials were the first breakthrough in VPS technologies. GC Fuji glass ionomer products both in cements and restoratives are the market leaders and have become the industry norm. GC FujiCEM 2, a new resin modified glass ionomer luting cement, is an example of an already-popular product enhanced with F2 Flex Fused Technology. This new technology incorporates new high-elastic crosslinking monomers with a modified filler-surface treatment that increases strength properties.

GC continues to evolve and research new innovations like with our EQUIA product, a true bulk-fill amalgam replacement. These are just a few examples of our goal to continue to grow and develop new products that meet our industry needs.

What is your current business philosophy? What is your corporate strategy?
Bradshaw: GC's global philosophy is that true products are made for the good of others, not for your own sake, and our vision is to be the number-one dental company. We feel that by incorporating this philosophy, our vision will be realized.

How do you obtain feedback from your customers? What do you do with that information?
Bradshaw: GC has a philosophy which we call "Semui." Basically this means always do the right thing for your customers without any regard to oneself. So, as you can see, the customer is very important to us. We gather information in a variety of ways. We use current social media methods like Facebook or Twitter, sending out surveys, attending dental shows or, the best way – talking directly to the customer! Our focus on this information that we gather is to continually improve our products and fulfill our customers' needs. One of our latest new product launches, MI Varnish, was purely based on talking and listening to our customers. As an established category in the market, GC wanted to provide a product that was unique and offered the necessary factors needed for a superior fluoride varnish. We looked at several varnishes on the market today and asked our customers what they liked and disliked. We listened carefully and developed a product that has gained attention in the first weeks of launch.

What are GC America's core values?
Bradshaw: Customer needs define quality. Our pledge to our customers is total commitment to quality through innovative research, excellence in manufacturing practices, advanced marketing and sales techniques, the best in customer relations and fair and consistent pricing policies.

Tell us about GC's culture. How is it different than other dental companies?
Bradshaw: GC focuses on systems that create an environment for improvement and innovation. We do not work for the benefit of investors, but for the further development of dental science and improvement of public oral health. GC solely focuses on dentistry. The focus and passion of our associates is innovation and improvement of new dental products for the advancement of oral health. This passion leads our R&D team to create state-of-the-art new products and product categories like our MI Paste and MI Varnish, both with the benefits of RECALDENT, and also new composite advancements such as KALORE, utilizing revolutionary monomer technology from DuPont. These are some of the advances and focus that make GC different.

Research and development are huge parts of GC's culture, and you recently opened the GC Corporation R&D Center in Tokyo, Japan. Tell us Director of Sales and Marketing Scott Bradshaw, left, and President and COO Yutaka Suzuki, right. about GC America's product development process from start to finish. What can you tell us about your new facility?
Bradshaw: In the United States GC isn't known for being an R&D company. To dispel this misnomer, we want to share that we employ more than 200 R&D associates who are focused on the research and development of dental materials, fostering innovation and technological advances, by utilizing this new state-of-the-art facility. Fast-paced and creative advances are enabled by the open layout and communication loop.

What is GC's R&D mission?
Bradshaw: Our mission is to create new products, rich in creativity, which meet global needs and reinforce the GC corporate brand in order to realize a long, healthy-living society.

How much input is there from clinicians from America and other countries when developing a new product?
Bradshaw: Clinicians in both America and globally are centrally involved in the development of new products. This could begin with the product idea itself through defining the initial requirements or ultimately testing/evaluating the product prior to introducing it to market.

Oftentimes when a product is being evaluated, you only hear what is good about the product. At GC, we want to hear both the positive and negative so that we can improve our products and continue to grow.

In 2000, GC became the first dental company to receive the Deming Application Prize, which is quite a big deal in the arena of quality control. Can you tell us more about this prize, what it took for GC to receive such an award and what it means?
Bradshaw: The Deming Application Prize was created in honor of W. Edwards Deming, an American who went to Japan and had a profound impact on its manufacturing and business. He is best known for "Plan-Do-Check-Act" (PDCA) management method and for his contributions and improvements to product design, quality, testing and, ultimately, sales.

The Deming Application Prize is awarded to companies that make major advances in quality improvement. Achieving the Deming Prize takes a commitment from associates to fully understand and carry out their roles in contributing to the continuous improvement of GC.

GC's achievement of the Deming Application Prize means global confirmation that GC is a leader in providing quality products to the market place.

What divisions earned the Deming Application Prize?
Bradshaw:
  • GC Corporation earned the Deming Application Prize in 2000.
  • GC Dental Products Corporation earned the Deming Application Prize in 2003.
  • GC Dental Suzhou, Ltd., (China) earned the Deming Application Prize in 2010.
  • GC America is now in the process of applying for the Deming Application Prize.
What is GC doing to ensure it maintains top-notch quality control?
Bradshaw: This is one of the key reasons for utilizing Deming within the entire GC organization. A true systematic approach to daily business incorporating total quality management (TQM) helps us ensure quality control in every aspect of our business.

Can you talk a little about product development? What does GC do to ensure its products are meeting a need and not just jumping into "metoo" categories?
Bradshaw: This is a challenge all dental companies face today. For a new product not to be considered a "me too," there needs to be a clear differentiation to other products, including what may be an earlier generation of your own product. Two factors you have to consider – what sets your product apart, and are you meeting a current need?

An excellent example of this is a product we introduced to market this year, MI Varnish. MI Varnish addressed recent industry comments on existing varnishes: bitter taste, package dispensing problems, retention and ease of application. There is nothing like MI Varnish on the market today.

How is GC expanding its product offerings?
Bradshaw: The global vision that the corporation has set forth as a challenge to all GC associates is to be the number-one dental company in the world by 2021. Currently, we are the number-one dental manufacturer in Japan and one of the leading dental companies worldwide. Within that vision is our commitment to develop cuttingedge products that will keep our customers one step ahead of the curve in their ability to react to changes in the market and have products at their disposal to better serve their clients and patients.

What do you do to make your customers feel at ease when working with or purchasing products from you?
Bradshaw: Faster, easier and better not only applies to our innovative product line, but it also applies to how we work with our customers. We want to make their experience with any GC associate pleasant, informative and relevant to their specific needs. We are proud of our relationships with our customers and strive to create a measurable difference in their minds that separates us from the competitors in a positive and helpful way.

What do you find most appealing about working with dental professionals?
Bradshaw: Working with dental professionals is a pleasure. It is an environment that is always energetic and a continuous learning experience. As a GC associate, I believe GC America offers the dental professional a company with a solid foundation and excellent values. We respect our customers, making work and positive interactions with the dental community both challenging and rewarding at the same time.

How has Dentaltown and our Townies affected your company? What have you learned via Dentaltown?
Bradshaw: Townies help us find out which current products meet or don't meet the current needs. They help us pinpoint what they're looking for. This helps us tremendously with new product development. We have found that Townies are a very knowledgeable group; the message boards are a very valuable resource not only for product research and education, but for support as well. The overall effect has been very positive; it is great to see GC America and our products on the message boards on a consistent basis.

For more information about GC America, visit www.gcamerica.com, call 800-323-7063 or e-mail gca_sales@gcamerica.com.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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