Contracting Global Economy Boon for Equipment Resellers

A U.S. market survey conducted in 2006 reported that about a third of hospitals and imaging centers had at least one refurbished imaging modality. Given the current intemperate economy, the credit crunch, and institutional budgetary constraints, the above ratio is very likely to climb. Many looking to acquire or upgrade their imaging equipment are making the choice and finding refurbished equipment to be a good alternative. In addition, private practice physicians wishing to furnish their office with imaging equipment find the price point of the equipment affordable.

Enterprising resellers, who have made a success in these difficult times, have shown at the outset interest in customer satisfaction and offer a variety of services to go along with refurbished equipment. One such company, Metropolis International (New York; NY; USA), offers turnkey imaging to its customers, and assists with all phases of a project, including planning, financing, construction, engineering, transportation, insurance, and equipment installation. The company also has the workforce required to bring any system to full functionality, and ensures that any equipment sold meets or exceeds the statutes and specifications of the locality in which it will operate. Refurbished equipment has a substantial market throughout the world, and the company has the expertise to provide overseas shipping of equipment and negotiate the complex export documentation required in these cases.

Leon Gugel, president of Metropolis, who anticipates a tightening of the market, emphasized the need to go the extra mile, "We have the pre-owned diagnostic imaging equipment, the C-arms, the CT, MRI machines, the bone densitometers, and the X-rays, and the ultrasounds, the portables, and whatever modalities you might be interested in, but we also have the will to satisfy our customers and the know-how to do it right. Case in point: a Midwest [USA] research facility required a specialty cardiac machine, and no one, not even the big boys could supply it—patients needed help; grant money was at stake. Well, we did; we delivered in two weeks—we had to stay in the office until five a.m. to do it, but it got done.”

Paradoxically, perhaps because of the boom times, a consolidation as an evolutionary effect is to be expected. As the industry matures, it is acquiring more structure. Resellers of refurbished equipment are looking to establish standards to help grow and regulate their market. Major refurbishers, often original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) themselves, are leading the way and collaborating to create industry standards. However, all is not harmony. The International Association of Medical Equipment Remarketers and Servicers (IAMERS), an industry body, is currently wary of an European initiative, the Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical, and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) plan to promote their standards of safety and quality assurance in the U.S., which IAMERS claims may well make it very difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to compete with OEMs. However, given the creativity and agility that often characterizes them, moderate-sized resellers have a good chance of overcoming these challenges too.

Related Links:
Metropolis International
IAMERS
COCIR