About Us

Think Australian, Think Defries

100% Australian Owned

Our range had increased to around 500 products. By now the Australian market knew that if you required a product packaged and sterilised then Defries was your first port of call. Assisted by independent distributors, Defries became known and respected across Australia and New Zealand.

1995 The company continued to grow from strength to strength, supported by Australian hospitals wanting to buy locally made products. We introduced a new range of singleuse instruments and the first customised theatre procedure packs. We bought land opposite our factory and built a new warehouse for dispatch and storage. We also bought a new automatic medical packaging machine to streamline manufacturing, allowing our company to become highly competitive. We also bought another 2 factories which were used for offices and storage.

2000 – 2005 The company now had over 100 employees, manufacturing 90,000 products per day, and offering over 1000 different product specialties. With continuing support from hospitals, we started to introduce more customised procedure packs for theatre. We bought another factory and fitted it with a much larger cleanroom. We also put in a new medical packaging machine. Now the company had 2 manufacturing sites running with 2 shifts. We bought land opposite the new manufacturing facility for a purposebuilt office and warehouse, which today houses the manufacturing and quality assurance departments, as well as a holding warehouse for raw material.

2007 With over 37 million products supplied yearly to hospitals, and around 160 specially trained staff, we began to look at expanding our premises. To complement the 6 facilities we already owned, we bought a new head office in Dandenong South.

2009 Defries Industries now supplies around 3000 different products. Additional diversification will be the key to our future, as we design and manufacture custom procedure packs for all areas of the hospital. The tremendous support offered by hospital departments has supported this growth. We continue to pursue products that save time, money and offer excellent quality to hospitals — and our profits are retained in Australia.

The Defries Industries team shares a vision of high standards and a commitment to superior patient care.

We continually strive to create outstanding products that excel in design, ease of use, safety and price.

Defries has built a strong national reputation since 1981 and expanded the company to now include more than 160 specially trained staff.

The Defries Story: Dedication to Product and Service Excellence

1981 Defries Industries was established in 1981. Michael de Fries had worked for a major surgical dressing company for 19 years, developing, designing and selling unique products into the Australian healthcare market. In 1981 this company was bought by a multinational medical company and Michael decided to start his own medical manufacturing business.

With support from his wife Elwyn, son Greg and a number of local and overseas suppliers and service providers, Defries Industries was born.

Michael built a small garage at the family home, incorporating a cleanroom (one of the first in Australia for surgical dressings), an office and warehouse. While Michael was out selling the first Defries products, Greg was manufacturing products and answering phone queries. Elwyn was working by day as a professional secretary and assisting with the typing and doing the accounts at night, as well as running a home.

Michael and Elwyn took an enormous risk starting the company and placing all their assets and hard earned money on the line. Elwyn often said “I hope you know what you are doing.” Michael’s confident reply was “If anyone can do it, we can!” His bank manager thought he was very brave or a little crazy.

Our first products were pre-packed packing gauze, gauze swabs, cotton balls, double-ended applicators and acriflavine-impregnated cotton wool.

1990 By this stage the product range and staff had grown and we were able to buy our first factory. We built a new pharmaceutical-grade cleanroom, and moved into new offices and warehousing, equipped with our very own walking forklift.