Did you know that Google was named for the mathematical term "googol" which is 10 to the 100th power? Mike Ghazal liked that inspiration and named his company after Zetta, which is 10 to the 21st power. If you want to get technical, Zetta is also 1000 to the 7th power, and getting technical is what Zetta Medical Technologies is all about.

Zetta Medical Technologies is a comprehensive service provider for GE and Siemens MR and CT systems. "We are a company that consists of a number of OEM-trained engineers and we provide or offer service nationwide," Ghazal said. "We accept service agreements and demand services including cold head replacements for MRs, magnet ramp, and shim. We do CT tube replacements and full equipment relocation--installation and deinstallation. We also have our own inventory that we can use for our installed base and we can sell parts at discounts."

The company is expanding to a new Illinois facility by Labor Day. The new headquarters will help them gear up for a greater focus on systems refurbishing and sales. "It will allow us to house more inventory, expand our repair capabilities, and pull complete mobiles inside to work on them indoors," he said.
In addition to mobile companies, key customers include big brokers and independent service companies, and OEMs with multi-vendor programs. Zetta Medical has also added staff and now has six trained engineers plus a dedicated team for deinstall/install work.

"What sets us apart is we can equally take care of the GE and the Siemens products," he noted. "We also listen to what customers need and tailor the program to their needs. We don't come in and say 'here's how we can help you.' We say 'how can we really help you?'"

Ghazal, an 18-year industry veteran, says the big trend right now in his sector is the stress for more economical solutions. "We are starting to see signs of customers becoming more aware of the cost and the savings they can have going with pre-owned and refurbished systems as opposed to buying brand new. That is what triggered us to gear up to do the refurbished systems," Ghazal said. He observed that the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), which cut imaging reimbursements, is playing a significant role in the trend. "The DRA triggered it and everybody looks to cut costs. The imaging center owners and managers started looking for alternatives."

Meanwhile, the relatively young company established about a year ago, continues to grow. Old customers keep coming back, while new ones are added. "We are big on customer service. When we do business with customers we have a huge number of repeat customers because we always do right by them."

That sounds like a business plan with lots of digits in the sales column.

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