"Sadly, from the service engineer perspective, while a few companies dedicated their efforts to improving the technology available, others designed short-term alternatives to quality, lasting equipment," Donoghue says. "The Physician Office Lab who previously spent $35,000 on a 3-part Diff CBC system now faces choosing between the $40K upgrade or the $13K 'disposable' instrument. Manufacturers as well as their physician customers appear to have lost confidence in POL In-Office diagnostics to generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses."

Without confidence in POL testing as a profit center as well as a convenience, the trend away from quality equipment worthy of an investment towards low cost, disposable instrumentation has this service company investigating alternatives to guarantee the future of specialized engineering and service staff.


Positive Outlook

Beckman Coulter Inc. are preparing for what they believe will be a sharp increase in 2010 profits. The biomedical test equipment manufacturer forecast 2010 earnings at 7 percent more than the final tally of their 2009 year-end report. They further expect sales from the lab-based diagnostics business it acquired from Olympus Corp. last year to contribute about $480 million this year.

Thermo Scientific Inc. also has some good things on the horizon. The Waltham, Mass.-based laboratory equipment maker will spend $5 million over the next three years to expand a cold storage equipment, centrifuge and oven manufacturing plant in Asheville, N.C., adding 104 jobs. The move will allow the company to add new product lines, which will be made at the plant. The state of North Carolina will contribute a $208,000 grant to help pay for the expansion.

Even the third-party vendors are seeing good things already this year.

"I believe 2010 will be much better than 2009 when it comes to used lab equipment," says Sanchez. "I think we may see double-digit growth. There will always be a need for good used equipment but I think it's even more now. There is a market out there for everything."

According to Elaine Henkin, CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Med Tech Sales, business is out there, but you may have to work a little harder to get it. Henkin explains how she has been going back to her past client list to find out what the needs of her former clients are.

"On the positive side, I think things are getting better as far as people having more expendable money, and they seem to have more grants being given," she says. "There are certain deals coming up. Coagulation has expanded. There's a lot more about coagulation so a lot more is now being done as far as studies. It's interesting for anyone in this business to watch. The same is the case for molecular biology."

More Industry Reports