We have used almost all the service companies from USA for the repair work on following items.
Pulse Oximetry Probes - Reusable probes (HP, Philips, Masimo, Nellcor, BCI, Marquette, Datex, Ohmeda etc.)
Fetal Ultrasound and Toco Transducers Mostly made by Corometrics, GE, HP and Philips.
We
have variety of equipment and most of the time lot of money is spent on
above mentioned accessories than the main equipment. We try to reduce
the down time by keeping sets of accessories as spare in stock. The
major trouble is when we receive back the repaired or rebuilt items, we
find that the parts used are non OEM, the unit does not function to OEM
specs and inconsistency (intermittent) in performance or readings. We
did a very thorough tracking and documented the quality problem each
vendor wise for past 3 years. To our surprise, we found that 88% of
repaired or rebuilt items were failing within 3 months and when sent
back to the same vendor, we were never told that they were under
warranty. Unless you mention and fight (of course by producing tracking
document with dates and sr. no.), they do not honour warranty. If we
sent original transducers (with OEM parts, logos on it), most of them
come back with cheap quality after market plastic casings and fixtures.
For instance, HP/Philips fetal Toco or ultrasound transducer (M1355A
& M1356A) some times comes back with a CLIP in place of Wire Form
(Belt Buckle Snap). This clip does not last more than 3-4 months as it
is fixed with Self Threading aluminum screw that can not sustain the
tension due to heavy clip. Such a transducer with the clip is much
heavy compared to the original and does not give Toco reading as per
the testing procedure in the service manual. Our technicians have found
that the cable quality is very poor, shield keeps internally braking in
short usage, the strain reliefs are heavily glued to the casings, top
and bottom casings are also glued as these after market parts do not
match dimensionally. The strain guages used in Toco transducers are 99%
cases are non OEM and do not perform to original specs. We sent some of
these items to local testing labs and got the same results.
In
fact, we called Philips and obtained the quote for the strain guage P/N
0960-0810. It costs US $ 274.46 plus the taxes and shipping, so the
cost for just the strain guage is little over US $300. Then the
question comes to our mind that how come these repair service companies
can afford to do the entire repair of the Toco transducer (M1355A) just
for US $130? Is not it interesting?
Well, we have complete
analysis, tracking documentation, testing results, performance tracking
record, photographs, OEM testing procedures from manuals etc. and we
can share with biomedical community if any one is interested. The fact
is that we jump on LOWEST price quote and in long run more money is
spent on repairs, rather repeated repairs than replacing with new one.
Our record tells us that it would have been best to replace the
transducers with new from OEM at first instance rather than sending for
LOWEST cost repairs. And that is what we had started doing since mid of
the year 2006 until 10 months back when we found a company in Atlanta
(USA) for the repairs of Nonin Xpod 3013. This service company did a
superb job on those nonin Xpod external pulse oximetry module that most
of the other service companies expressed inability. In a process, we
learnt that the company also does many other accessories such as pulse
oximetry probes sensors, fetal transducers, phaco hand-pieces, harmonic
scalpels, electronic circuit boards etc.
We sent many different
accessories, mainly fetal transducers to this company and our tracking
shows that they do excellent work. The strain guages they use are from
OEM and when asked, they clarified that they have good understanding
with OEM and hence there is some saving on bulk part purchase which is
passed on to client by way of little reduction in service repair
charges as compared to the OEM repair or replacement/exchange cost.
Obviously they are not competitive to the companies who use substitute
parts but they are 100% reliable. Moreover the repair work performed by
them lasts longer and they also offer choice of 2 year warranty. Some
of the points about their quality are as follows and worth checking out.
Repair
Service label with Sr. No. is of transparent plastic, the sr. no. does
not get washed away or fade with water, soap, cleaning alcohol or other
solutions used in hospital environment as well as biomed tech. The
label has company name and hence no dispute when you send the repaired
unit back. I would say, "perfect labeling for perfect tracking". One
has to use razor to take this label off! When discussed with the
company officials, they were very delighted to answer that their goal
is to track and find out if quality lacks in any aspect from their end.
Secondly, they analyze the failure leading to a solution to weakness in
the original design or end user problem.
Corometrics Trimline
Toco transducer model 2260 - Our technicians found that the original
unit from factory itself (in most cases) does not have steady (stable)
base line and overall performance. The Atlanta based service company
eliminates that problem and all our repaired Trimline transducers are
functioning perfectly all right.This is the first company who instructed
us to have Trimline transducer connected to the Corometrics monitors
for at least 5 minutes in power on condition (warm up) before putting
on to patient. The old style transducers (Model 2264) does not require
power on warm up. Many a times the end user does not do the warm up of
Trimline transducers and then they are not able to 'Zero' the base
line, it is taken out of service, sent to repairs and comes back with
repair invoice though there is no repair needed! The Atlanta based company
did not charge us for the Trimline transducers sent to them and found
working fine after 'Warm Up'. Also the Nautilus Toco transducers
perform more reliably if warm up is given for 5 minutes before
'Zeroing' the base line. Most of the Corometrics monitors have Base
Line count as 10. It is worth while to note that the old style
Corometrics transducer model 2264 (Box Style) performs most reliably
compared to the new Nautilus Toco transducer model 2264
GAX/HAX/JAX/KAX/MAX. The reading linearity, stability and repeatability
is far superior with the old model. The Atlanta based company brought
this to our notice and our technicians confirmed it by extensive testing. Now we have taken
the policy decision to have rebuilt transducers, old style model 2264
to replace all Nautilus. I would strongly recommend you to procure at
least one rebuilt unit of model 2264 from the Atlanta based company and
compare the performance with the Nautilus. The company even takes it
back if returned within 2 weeks. Moreover new transducers of old model
2264 are not available from the OEM-Corometrics. Though we were
convinced, initially we had difficulty with the end users as they liked
the shape of the Nautilus. Finally performance won over the Looks!
Thanks to our technicians who patiently tracked the performance and
convinced everyone involved. Patients deserve the best, they pay the
fees without a bargain and hence we felt it our moral obligation to
measure the performance of service that we used to get at 'real
bargain' price. In reality, we were paying more by repeated (non
tracked) repairs in short periods, substandard performance, unease to
end users, longer and repeated down time etc.
Generally the turn around time
is 4-5 working days and they keep us informed when they are over loaded
but always try to send at least 50% units within 2-3 days. This mostly
happens during holiday season.
We also found that this company
does repair latest Philips Avalon transducers model M2735A and M2736A.
Some units can not be repaired as Philips does not provide them the
proprietary software and related parts. Our experience is that 7 out of
10 transducers (Avalon series) get repaired and that too 100% with
original parts as well as the performance. This means, for every
consignment of 10 units that are faulty, we would have landed up
spending US $13,000 if they were to be sent to Philips authorised
dealer but we land up saving over $4800 against 7 repaired transducers.
The turn around time for the Avalon transducer is little higher but it
is worth while looking at the savings during this economic situation.
The company officials told us that they are developing the capability for the cordless (wireless) transducers used with Philips Avalon Fetal Monitors Model FM-20, FM-30, FM-50. We changed our transducers from wireless to cord type as they used to "walk out" or get dropped and damaged. Few working and non working transducers that were left with us, have been donated to them for developing the repair capability. Though we had not asked for any compensation, the company added co-operation discount in the repair invoicing and a thanking note for the support. We are glad to say that these folks are honest and very professional in their approach.
Other
items like Phaco Hand-pieces, Harmonic scalpel, DEEG Module M1364A,
circuit board etc., we do not have a very large volume but the few
units we sent to this company for repairs turned out in excellent shape
and significant cost savings. Again, the savings compared to OEM
pricing and not the companies that use substitute parts. We used to
make the mistake in past by jumping on lowest price but our tracking
system made us wise. The credit goes to all the end users who brought
it to our notice with consistent follow up. Hope that you would also
experience the same if proper tracking is done.
The details of the repair service company are as follows.
Averon Bionics, Inc. 7094 Peachtree Ind. Blvd. Suite 255, Norcross, GA 30071 USA.
Tel: +1 770 263 8090 Fax: +1 770 263 8818
www.averoninc.com
We
hope that the information helps all the Biomed Tech community,
especially those who are under pressure from the end users. Also, it is
great to save huge amounts by way of quality repair service during the
current economic situation.
