Jerin George-Mathew
As a former biomedical engineer, Jerin George-Mathew, product safety regulatory engineer, Tenacore Holdings Inc, Santa Ana, Calif, is in the perfect position to help Tenacore’s end users—hospital biomeds and biomed interns—receive exactly what they need to get the job done. Tenacore, which began as a medical products distribution company, has expanded to offer repair services as well as manufacture original parts. And while the company prides itself on its customer service and the quality of its products, it is its new training program that offers a truly innovative benefit for biomeds nationwide. The program functions as a funding system to help clinical/biomedical engineering departments receive the best training, regardless of who offers it. Together with the company’s repair and manufacturing services, George-Mathew believes that Tenacore offers everything biomeds need to excel in the ever-changing field.
24×7: Tell us a bit about your background in the medical device industry.
George-Mathew: I work as the quality engineer at Tenacore. I am responsible for the quality of the medical devices and processes that Tenacore offers. I had previously worked as a biomedical engineer, but it was not in the US but rather in the Middle East. When I went to school at the University of Southern California I studied medical device and diagnostic engineering, and once I was hired at Tenacore, I was involved in the quality and the regulatory part, as well as research and development.
24×7: What is your role at Tenacore?
George-Mathew: My role at Tenacore is primarily focused on the quality aspect. I ensure that every unit that goes out conforms to industry, OEM, or international standards. Once the units are out in the market, I have to make sure that any complaints the customers have—which are used to modify the devices or processes that we offer—are copied into our system.
Quality is defined as complying with customer needs. As a former biomed, I was the customer. Biomeds do the maintenance and calibration to ensure that all of the devices in the hospital are functioning properly. Being a biomedical engineer, I got my hands on all of the processes that biomeds are involved with, so that gave me a good insight into the industry, which I am able to use in my position at Tenacore.
24×7: Can you briefly discuss Tenacore’s history and service area?
George-Mathew: Tenacore Holdings started as a medical products distribution company in 2000 and progressed into a repair depot for medical equipment. Tenacore later identified a need to provide cost-effective, compatible OEM replacements for patient monitoring devices, wall suction regulators, and oxygen blenders. In 2005, this need provided Tenacore an impetus to manufacture medical devices. Currently, we service the entire US, as well as some clients in Europe. We have an ISO mark—ISO 13485:2003—and a CE mark for some of our products.
24×7: Can you tell me a bit about the BEST (biomedical education support and training) program?
George-Mathew: The BEST program is an educational support program that we offer to our customers to assist with their continued education. We currently have hundreds of BEST members, and we expect that trend to continue throughout 2011. When our customers sign up for the program, they immediately begin earning 2% from all of their purchases. Tenacore funnels the 2% earned toward educational programs aimed at enhancing the biomed’s work-related knowledge.
The biomeds are able to pick and choose what program they want to take. These are not programs offered by Tenacore. They can take programs from anywhere in the country, and it should contribute to their career. The BEST program is very different from other training programs because it gives autonomy to the biomed and the biomed department to choose which programs they would like to participate in. We aren’t simply offering a set course of training programs. We are basically giving them the opportunity to earn a scholarship and then use it for any opportunity that they choose.
24×7: How has the trend of education affected your business?
George-Mathew: Higher levels of training actually help to increase the repair business that we see. When biomeds are trained to work on higher-level equipment they may not have sufficient time to do the more basic repairs on lower-level equipment. That is where Tenacore can help. We understand that it is often more cost-effective to send out this type of equipment for repair. In most cases, our customers are able to save their facilities time and money by sending their repairs to us and focusing on higher-level equipment.
24×7: How has the market changed in the last 2 years?
George-Mathew: We’ve seen a lot more items come in for repairs. We haven’t had any downturn because hospitals have been sending in products for repair rather than making capital purchases.
24×7: How else has the market changed?
George-Mathew: I think we will continue to see consolidation of the OEMs as some companies continue to struggle and other companies have cash to spend on a good deal.
The job market for biomeds appears to be very strong and will continue to grow. However, biomeds need to acquire new skills, especially in the IT arena. I think that we will see more integration with IT as equipment and technology continue to advance. Connectivity between devices will become more important.
24×7: Are there plans for Tenacore to offer any classes?
George-Mathew: Not right now, but in the future, yes. We have moved into a larger facility and were thinking of offering classes, but not right now because we have a great program and want to judge the market and how our classes might benefit the biomeds.
24×7: With your BEST program, is Tenacore concerned that its customers will change services to one of the companies offering training?
George-Mathew: We don’t mind if our customers take classes elsewhere because whatever funds they received from us went toward the BEST program. We feel that we have an edge over the competition in terms of quality and the services that we offer. There are things that are unique to Tenacore. For example, we manufacture most of the devices in-house. Even if it’s a plastic cover that goes into one of the transducers it’s manufactured in our facility. Ninety percent of our products are made in-house, so that makes it possible for us to have a faster turnaround than many other companies. We feel that we have better offerings than most other companies, so we aren’t too concerned about having competition.
24×7: What percentage of Tenacore’s business is repair versus manufacturing?
George-Mathew: Sixty percent of our business is repairs, and 40% is new products. We began manufacturing in 2005. Since then, it’s been about a 60/40 split. The industry is constantly changing, and new technology is being introduced. Some of the repair items that we do are outdated. We do see a drop in the repairs of those items, but we are trying to introduce new repair items over the coming years.
People sometimes prefer repairs rather than a new product because it’s more cost-effective for the hospital to send the parts to us for repair than buy a new unit. We think the amount of repairs will stay consistent in the industry in general, but for manufacturing, we try to provide cost-effective, OEM-compatible solutions. We also have repair exchanges where people send something in for repairs and we determine that the repair costs are too high, so we offer them new products.
24×7: What are some of the challenges facing Tenacore?
George-Mathew: The biggest challenge for Tenacore internally is finding well-qualified personnel. We are introducing a couple of products into the market over the next few years, so the uncertainty of the market is a challenge. There are also a lot of repair companies that are coming up. Many of them are having pricing wars, which are bringing the prices down, so another challenge is finding out how to sell our services better than our competition does.
24×7: Have you already had to lower prices because of this competition?
George-Mathew: For some products we had to, but we have different prices for distributors and customers. If a customer is offered a lower price for similar services—as far as quality is concerned—then we do have to lower prices. Otherwise, we know that our quality of service is superior to our competitors.
24×7: How did Tenacore become involved with local biomed associations?
George-Mathew: We have representatives in different parts of the country and wanted to get an insider’s view of each of the facilities and their devices. One of the ways we receive feedback or complaints about any of our products is through forums such as conferences and associations. This process is integral for us. Since we manufacture products, we value the input from biomeds from all around. We have representatives that are part of these associations. Our representatives are at these meetings, and Tenacore even sponsors some of these events. The biomed associations that we are currently involved with are the NCBA [North Carolina Biomed Association], VBA [Virginia Biomed Association], FBS [Florida Biomed Society], GBIS [Georgia Biomedical Instrumentation Society], CMIA [California Medical Instrumentation Association], OCBMETS [Orange County Biomedical Equipment Technicians Society], and CABMET [Colorado Association of Biomedical Equipment Technicians]. We attend each of the annual meetings, sponsor events, and support them by encouraging biomeds at local hospitals to join and attend the meetings as well.
24×7: What plans does Tenacore have for the future?
George-Mathew: Tenacore has an array of new products and services due to launch in 2011. We are excited about our new portable suction regulator due this year. We are also introducing a host of accessories and parts to our already existing product lines and services. We have also started to repair items with replaceable parts that we make in-house. For a lot of our repair products, we’re introducing parts that are made right here, especially the plastic parts. At the same time, we are extending our service to surgical suites where we will be servicing pneumatic handpieces, Phaco handpieces, and ultrasonic diagnostic probes, among other devices.
24×7: How else has the market changed?
George-Mathew: I think we will continue to see consolidation of the OEMs as some companies continue to struggle and other companies have cash to spend on a good deal.
The job market for biomeds appears to be very strong and will continue to grow. However, biomeds need to acquire new skills, especially in the IT arena. I think that we will see more integration with IT as equipment and technology continue to advance. Connectivity between devices will become more important.
24×7: Are there plans for Tenacore to offer any classes?
George-Mathew: Not right now, but in the future, yes. We have moved into a larger facility and were thinking of offering classes, but not right now because we have a great program and want to judge the market and how our classes might benefit the biomeds.
24×7: With your BEST program, is Tenacore concerned that its customers will change services to one of the companies offering training?
George-Mathew: We don’t mind if our customers take classes elsewhere because whatever funds they received from us went toward the BEST program. We feel that we have an edge over the competition in terms of quality and the services that we offer. There are things that are unique to Tenacore. For example, we manufacture most of the devices in-house. Even if it’s a plastic cover that goes into one of the transducers it’s manufactured in our facility. Ninety percent of our products are made in-house, so that makes it possible for us to have a faster turnaround than many other companies. We feel that we have better offerings than most other companies, so we aren’t too concerned about having competition.
24×7: What percentage of Tenacore’s business is repair versus manufacturing?
George-Mathew: Sixty percent of our business is repairs, and 40% is new products. We began manufacturing in 2005. Since then, it’s been about a 60/40 split. The industry is constantly changing, and new technology is being introduced. Some of the repair items that we do are outdated. We do see a drop in the repairs of those items, but we are trying to introduce new repair items over the coming years.
People sometimes prefer repairs rather than a new product because it’s more cost-effective for the hospital to send the parts to us for repair than buy a new unit. We think the amount of repairs will stay consistent in the industry in general, but for manufacturing, we try to provide cost-effective, OEM-compatible solutions. We also have repair exchanges where people send something in for repairs and we determine that the repair costs are too high, so we offer them new products.
24×7: What are some of the challenges facing Tenacore?
George-Mathew: The biggest challenge for Tenacore internally is finding well-qualified personnel. We are introducing a couple of products into the market over the next few years, so the uncertainty of the market is a challenge. There are also a lot of repair companies that are coming up. Many of them are having pricing wars, which are bringing the prices down, so another challenge is finding out how to sell our services better than our competition does.
24×7: Have you already had to lower prices because of this competition?
George-Mathew: For some products we had to, but we have different prices for distributors and customers. If a customer is offered a lower price for similar services—as far as quality is concerned—then we do have to lower prices. Otherwise, we know that our quality of service is superior to our competitors.
24×7: How did Tenacore become involved with local biomed associations?
George-Mathew: We have representatives in different parts of the country and wanted to get an insider’s view of each of the facilities and their devices. One of the ways we receive feedback or complaints about any of our products is through forums such as conferences and associations. This process is integral for us. Since we manufacture products, we value the input from biomeds from all around. We have representatives that are part of these associations. Our representatives are at these meetings, and Tenacore even sponsors some of these events. The biomed associations that we are currently involved with are the NCBA [North Carolina Biomed Association], VBA [Virginia Biomed Association], FBS [Florida Biomed Society], GBIS [Georgia Biomedical Instrumentation Society], CMIA [California Medical Instrumentation Association], OCBMETS [Orange County Biomedical Equipment Technicians Society], and CABMET [Colorado Association of Biomedical Equipment Technicians]. We attend each of the annual meetings, sponsor events, and support them by encouraging biomeds at local hospitals to join and attend the meetings as well.
24×7: What plans does Tenacore have for the future?
George-Mathew: Tenacore has an array of new products and services due to launch in 2011. We are excited about our new portable suction regulator due this year. We are also introducing a host of accessories and parts to our already existing product lines and services. We have also started to repair items with replaceable parts that we make in-house. For a lot of our repair products, we’re introducing parts that are made right here, especially the plastic parts. At the same time, we are extending our service to surgical suites where we will be servicing pneumatic handpieces, Phaco handpieces, and ultrasonic diagnostic probes, among other devices.
Chris Gaerig is the associate editor of 24×7. Contact him at .
