As youngsters, Ken Clark and his brother James always thought about working together and had a common goal to succeed in business. Ken, six years senior, went into avionics, while James started working in manufacturing. Both skill sets were in demand by GE and the brothers began working together for GE Ultrasource in Oklahoma, until its closing in 2003.

"I tested and certified all of the transducers being repaired at the Tulsa facility, and James was involved in the FDA certifications of probes being manufactured and sold through Ultrasource," said Ken Clark, president of the Owasso, Okla.-based company. "James developed processes for assembly, lenses and strain relief replacements; and engineered many fixtures, jigs and molds."

When the company moved operations to Arizona, the brothers decided to team up and start their own business. Ken and James saw a great need for quality repairs not currently available in the market, and opened Precision Transducer Services in 2004.

"It started with just us, and we decided that people wanted better quality, so we concentrated on that," Ken said. "Eventually we were doing other probes and we kept growing."

With a business philosophy of "providing the customer with the highest quality repairs with the fewest returns," PTS has seen its business grow 50 to 75 percent yearly since 2000; they now do close to 1,500 probes a year.

Precision Transducer Services offers a wide range of repair services for medical ultrasound probes, from the smallest cosmetic repair, to complete retermination of wiring harnesses and rebuilding the probe, including crystal repair.

"PTS can offer a level of quality repairs that other large companies cannot," Ken said. "Individualized repairs save money on total repair costs on ultrasound probes."

The company's capabilities include complete machine testing, FirstCall testing, plastics manufacturing and molding with full machine shop capabilities including the latest CNC, laser & bonding equipment.

"This assures you of a properly repaired probe with the supporting test data that allows you to verify the quality of the equipment that you have in use, or that the probe you are offering for sale meets the current industry standards for serviceability and safety," he said.

They also offer complete testing and verification, including supporting documentation as to the condition and performance of the probe. Regularly scheduled performance testing and analysis ensures that the probes meet current industry standards for safety and performance.

"We understand the repair environment and the need for repairs to be performed quickly and efficiently with minimal returns and rework while keeping costs to a minimum," Clark said.

The brothers believe that their biggest success is their continued growth, which has allowed them to expand their repair capabilities.

"We plan to double in size and capacity in 2010," Clark said. "We're expanding our facility to double the floor space and adding more service points. We will be able to handle more work."

And as for working with his brother, Ken said that's a great thing.

"A lot of people say they can't do it, but it's something that works for us," he said. "We offer a little more personalized approach when dealing with our customers. A lot of the feedback we get is that they like to be able to find out quickly what's being done with the probes. They don't disappear and customers can talk to someone here who is hands-on with the equipment."

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