Zia Chishti Conceived The Idea Of Align Technology After An Uncomfortable Appointment With His Dentist.

Technology has helped almost every field of work improve its operations. Whether it is the hospitality business or the healthcare industry, each one is enjoying merging technology to their services. Talking about healthcare, several machines are technology-based, whether an MRI machine or a heartbeat oscillator. There are also 3D scanners made by companies like Align Technology that are used in the orthodontics department of healthcare, to ease out dental operations. The company is known for its 3D digital scanners and clear aligners made for the dentistry industry. Not only the company manufactures these products but also provides resources for the doctors to learn and train better.

About Align Technology

A twenty-five years old Align Technology has its headquarters based in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. (corporate), and San Jose, California, U.S. (regional). This American company is a leading manufacturer of orthodontics devices. The company was founded in 1997 by Zia Chishti and Kelsey Wirth. The company is based in America but serves worldwide. It specializes in manufacturing clear aligners and scanners. Align Technology is a publically traded company and trades on Nasdaq as ALGN. As per the 2020 records, the company made annual revenues worth US$2.471 Billion and is a home for over 18,070 employees working for it globally. The company has over 1,260 patents registered under its name.

The Back Story

Zia Chishti conceived the idea of Align Technology after an uncomfortable appointment with his dentist. He partnered with Kelsey Wirth to develop clear aligners under the brand name Invisalign. The company received the approval for Invisalign from Food and Drug Administration in 1998, and they started shipping the products very next year. In the initial years of Align Technology, it received investments worth $140 million from some major venture capitalists. In 2001, the company had its first IPO, and it went public on NASDAQ. It raised a sum of $130 million in the IPO.
The innovative idea behind the Align Technology products made the company reach over 175,000 by 2004. In 2005, the company started to expand overseas and reached Japan for the first time. The same year, the Invisalign certification also became a compulsory thing for the Harvard School Dental Medicine graduates. Align Technology has also launched a certification program to train doctors and has established the AlignTech Institute for doctors to learn better.
Align Technology also introduced another innovative product in 2005, the Invisalign Express 10. The next launches from the company included Invisalign 1.5 (2009), Invisalign G3 (2010), Invisalign G4 (2011), Express 5 version (2012), Invisalign G5 (2014), etc.
In 2011, Company acquired Israel-based Cadent System, Inc., which helped the company to expand its 3D imaging and scanner manufacturing wing. By 2014, over 2.4 million people all over the world were being treated using Invisalign. Also, Align Technology became a unicorn in 2016. Apart from California, the company has its manufacturing units based in Costa Rica, Juarez, and Mexico. It also has its scanner manufacturing units in Israel and China. It has also launched separate subsidiaries to operate in Australia and Hong Kong.

The CEO at Align Technology

Joseph M. Hogan or Joe Hogan is the Director, President, and the CEO at Align Technology, serving since 2015 at the position. Hogan has got a B.S. degree in Business and Economics from Geneva College, Pennsylvania, and has completed his MBA from Robert Morris University.
With more than 25 years of experience, Hogan has worked at executive positions in companies belonging to fields, including healthcare, technology, automation, etc. Before becoming the CEO of Align Technology, Hogan has served companies like ABB and GE Healthcare as the CEO.