Medical equipment is a complex industry in which competitors can also be colleagues and this greatly benefits customers including hospital biomedical engineers.

To expand its services to include ultrasound transducer repair and exchange, Axess Ultrasound has a strategic alliance with another industry leader, Sonora Medical Systems, Longmont, Colo. Axess Ultrasound's field service staff use Sonora's ultrasonic diagnostic tools to test parts and systems. Meanwhile Sonora Medical Systems also sells and repairs parts for diagnostic ultrasound and MRI.





"For testing and repair of ultrasound transducers, we use the FirstCall probe testing system and some specifically designed controller systems," noted Jim Carr, Sonora's Vice President of Operations and Quality. "MRI parts are tested in a variety of test beds that are either subsystems of MRI units or specially designed testing systems that simulate the inputs and outputs for the unit under test."

Good rules of thumb are to choose a supplier with a real inventory of working parts, test systems or beds, and a warranty.

Value-Added and Incentives

Even with the significant savings they offer customers, parts suppliers face tough competition in a crowded market. Many offer additional incentives over and above a quality, tested, and warrantied part. Classic Diagnostic Imaging, Macedonia, Ohio, is known for quality refurbished and used parts and great prices for all imaging equipment, but also distinguishes itself with support. "One thing that separates us is we don't just sell or broker the parts, we can do the tech support on the part. We refurbish parts and that gives us an edge over someone who just brings in a piece of equipment and tears it down," said Charlene Gregg, Office Manager. "If the customer calls and knows he needs a board on the left side of the cabinet but is not sure what board he is looking for, we can help narrow that down for him. If he is trouble-shooting and thinks it's one of three boards, we can help with support or a hero kit." (A hero kit is a full set of parts, such as circuit boards, that the customer can swap out till the problem is isolated. By shipping a full set, the engineer can be sure to fix the problem when it's found, then ship back unused boards to the supplier.)

More Industry Reports