National X-Ray Corporation is a full-service medical imaging equipment provider and technical service organization serving the Americas. They've been in business nearly 12 years and just moved from Tampa to a new warehouse facility in Sarasota, Florida. "We will be more sub-system repair and testing-oriented than full systems," said President Bill Adkins. "We are going to concentrate more on that and depot-level repair."

The new facility includes sophisticated test equipment and hot benches that re-create subsystems like the x-ray generator or image intensifier. Computers and C-Arm workstations allow technicians to power up, swap and repair boards. "Depot-level repair is reworking where you really get down and use test equipment to see what's going on. It's board-level repair, high-level calibration...seeing what is happening with the hardware/software interface."

Examples of their expertise include OEC and Philips C-Arms, and Philips and GE CT scanners and cath labs.


Adkins has decades of experience in the health technology field including working as a "customer" supervising x-ray equipment maintenance at Duke University hospitals and clinics. He also worked in avionics very early in his career and brings to the medical technology field the same focus on precision and technical mastery that is the priority in aviation electronics.

"That lent an extra sense of urgency to how I look at the business," he said. "I have extra insight as to how the customers feel when the equipment is broken and nobody is there to fix it... I look upon 'down' x-ray equipment like an airplane that can't fly and you have to get it back in the air."

Things have really taken off at National X-Ray Corporation and customers today include mostly wholesale, business-to-business clients such as other x-ray companies. "They buy parts and systems from us. We'll do parts identification for them....If the customer has a problem our job is to solve that problem."

DOTmed has proved important on the business side. "DOTmed is the first real advertising effort we've made. Everything else has been word of mouth for years," Adkins said. "It's very useful. I like DOTmed, it's been a nice tool for us."

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