When Joseph Cramer was working for equipment manufacturer IVAC in 1986 selling IV pumps, he noticed that several of the hospitals had large amounts of disposables left over and he suggested that they sell them to other hospitals. That simple idea resulted in his incorporating his own company and partnering with the hospitals to split the profits from the sale.

Cramer continued to work in the medical field, heading from IVAC to Medtronic, but being in charge was something that must have appealed to him, as a few years later, he started working out of his garage dealing in excess gloves, syringes and other overstocked items. But IV pumps were really where his expertise stood out, and eventually his business changed to selling as-is and refurbished pumps and parts.

"I got out of those other items because I didn't know what I was doing. When you acquire items you don't know about, you lose your credibility," he said. "I was lucky to work at IVAC all those years learning the technology and specializing in one area."

As President of I.V. Technologies, Inc., Cramer has seen the company grow from his garage, to his basement, to a 7,000 square foot corporate office in northern Virginia. Since founding I.V. Technologies in 1986, the company has shipped over 40,000 remanufactured infusion pumps worldwide.

"The first part I ever sold was an IVAC 530 flow sensor," he recounted. "My wife said I was never going to make any money with parts, but now she's very happy I got into them."

IV Technologies specialized only in IV infusion pumps now, and Cramer thinks that's one of the reasons the company has remained successful. Another is the service he provides to his customers.

"My business philosophy is to take care of my customers, some of whom have been buying from me for the past 24 years." he said. "It's important to keep them happy, and you have to build confidence in a customer from day one."

The company also takes pride in their Earth friendly policies, which keeps several thousand pumps a year from going into landfills.

"Each year, we recycle approximately two tons of lead acid and NiCad batteries," he said. "We also rebuild and resell over 2,000 infusion pumps, keeping over 18 tons of equipment out of our landfills and water supplies."

As for the future, Cramer envisions doing more with replacement parts and service.

"There is a market with service, and with the change in the market place now, hospitals are really tight for cash and we went out with a low price on labor to repair equipment," he said. "On the pump side, selling a refurbished pump has really fallen off. Hospitals have what they need and aren't buying the pumps to supplement...but the parts have skyrocketed. We changed with the market place by getting into parts and service."

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