With an expanding demand on parts and services, other solutions have begun to emerge offering a wider range of choices for companies looking for that needed piece of the equipment puzzle. DOTmed Certified Parts Vendor was unveiled last year to put parts buyers in direct contact with parts stocking vendors.

(Disclosure: DOTmed Certified Parts Vendor is a service of DOTmed.com, the parent company of DOTmed Business News).


Overseas
Even though the domestic market has been increasing each year, the international market has been garnering a lot of interest from everyone in the sector.

“An international parts business is good for many reasons,” says Robert Graham, sales director for Polaris Medical Imaging. “It helps you to expand your reach, as well as customers, to get more parts sold and out the door. You also gain resources that you may be able to use to help you in future business. It also aids in the marketability of your company.”

Joshua Glas, parts director for ADAM Imaging Parts Inc., has been seeing big increases in his overseas parts market.

“It’s gotten more challenging for them since the dollar has started to appreciate a little bit, but it’s still very good,” he says. “I have been fortunate to build strong international relationships and I have seen growth everywhere—Kenya, Australia, Asia, all over the world.”

Since many of these countries are using older equipment, it gives a parts company the chance to unload some product that is probably never going to be sold domestically.

“There’s not much value in those parts here, so I give them fantastic pricing and it’s good for them and a little gravy for me,” Glas says. “Some of these parts can be 20 years old so it’s really a win-win.”

Helms says that Troff Medical regularly ships its wares to anywhere from six to eight countries, but has dealt with more than 25 different countries over the years.

George Fraza, general manager for DMS Topline Medical, says his company has also been expanding a great deal overseas and has shipped a considerable amount of biomedical parts to Central and South America and some to India. He has made sure to stay on top of current trends to see where else his business can grow.

“With the market in India and Russia exploding, we see those as two excellent markets to get into, especially with the boom in hospitals in both,” Fraza says. “There’s a company in India expected to build 3,600 beds worth of hospitals so there is a tremendous opportunity to expand in the international domain.”

Overseas customers must have a high degree of trust in the parts provider, which makes the relationship aspect more significant. Customer loyalty in the international market is forged quickly when the parts provider demonstrates reliability.

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