PartsSource Recycled Parts Equals Medical Hope
Key Ideas
PartsSource is the leader in managing the inventory of high quality medical equipment and parts consigned by charitable organizations and healthcare providers. It accepts medical equipment on consignment, or purchases it, and then donates the equipment to a charity, allowing for a fair market tax deduction. Once equipment is received by PartsSource it is carefully reviewed and, if applicable, separated to the parts assembly level. These parts are then made available at a substantial savings to end users who are currently utilizing the exact same piece of equipment. A portion of the revenue generated by the equipment transfer is returned to the consigning organization or a charity. This creates a profit from the (originally) discarded equipment.
PartsSource delivers tangible benefits to those in need while improving cash-flow for an organization. By donating through PartsSource the medical equipment provider can rest assured that the necessary medical equipment will end up in the hands of a legitimate charity that supports worldwide healthcare. This indirectly allows them the opportunity to provide relief to those in need.
Innovation
Humanitarian projects are selected by PartsSource either through requests from organizations through international organizations the company has a working relationship with, or by introduction to a project through a referral within their network. The core of the operation is to supply clinics and healthcare facilities with parts or equipment so they are able to be operational and deliver the services they were intended to provide. The humanitarian projects are supported through the PartsSource business which encourages hospitals or healthcare facilities to donate excess, discarded or end of life medical equipment (whose other options include trading it in to an OEM, or selling it to a broker or end user) to PartsSource which then tears it down to the parts level, lists the parts as inventory and will sell the parts of the donated equipment.
A. Ray Dalton, CEO of PartsSource, formed the initial plan as a humanitarian (non-profit) organization that would support healthcare facilities worldwide with necessary parts or equipment, but soon realized that he could be more effective by building a business, and using the business to fund the targeted projects. He had been a successful entrepreneur and wanted to build a profitable business with a humanitarian purpose. Dalton has built a $40 million dollar company on that basis.
Projects are active in Cuba, Haiti, Romania, Hungry, Viet Nam, Djibouti, and elsewhere. A three year project in India is underway to establish 25 clinics organized by the India Gospel League. In another instance, PartsSource has supported a pregnancy center in Cleveland with ultrasound equipment. The commitment is to select one charitable project each month -12 projects a year. These projects range from supplying a clinic in Cuba with 10,000 pairs of eyeglasses to establishing complete healthcare facilities. A tremendous advantage for any clinic is the company’s ability to acquire the part or piece of equipment at a fraction of the cost in the market place. A completely refurbished ultrasound machine was acquired for $7500 that would have cost the Cuban clinic $100,000. The eye glasses for the Cuban clinic were purchased for $1 per pair from a contact at Cole National’s Pearle Vision Centers.
When the PartsSource receives a request for a piece of medical equipment they check their inventory and if it’s not in stock they will try to solicit it from one of their resources or will purchase it. PartsSource’s humanitarian efforts are staffed, full time, by an ordained pastor as well as an engineer who has worked on healthcare devices. His full time job is to assist Dalton in selecting the projects and to ensure the equipment gets where it supposed to be. Equipment is purchased in consultation with the manager of the humanitarian operation. He evaluates the requests that come in. Conditions are attached to each request, and decisions to buy or refuse are placed on each one.
The innovation and uniqueness of the PartsSource approach is that everything contributed to a humanitarian project must be tested, fully operational and supported with manuals and back up parts for at least 36 months. “I’m not going to ship trash”, says Dalton. One of the requirements for the international projects is the three year plan of operations. Their process is to approach incoming equipment as an asset and determine how it can be managed the most efficient way to provide the greatest use.
The PartsSource philosophy is to sell the parts and buy books, band aids, whatever is needed. The innovation is not storing thousands of pieces in a warehouse, but converting fuel to what needs energy, though it may not be the exact fuel.
Impact
PartsSource does not know the exact numbers of additional patients served. They do know the “feel good” measurements as seen in the impact to the organizations that are supported. One year after each project they schedule a conference call and, at times, a visit to see how the project is going. They ask for status reports on utilization to determine whether the facilities are staffed, if the staff are seeing patients, and if the equipment is in regular use. PartsSource also tries to determine whether the original intent continues and whether they are accomplishing what they intended.
The most powerful impact may come when PartsSource employees look at the line of people waiting to get into the clinic and know that an investment of $10,000 will change so many lives for so little.
“We consider a project successful when we deliver a workable unit so the people in the organization can accomplish their mission”, said Dalton.
"Humanitarian efforts are our willingness to go outside of our own comfort zone, with commitment or dollars," says Dalton. "We’ve lived by the philosophy that our humanitarian efforts have to be first, our fiscal efforts have to be second. But if you’re a good fiscal manager you can do more humanitarian efforts, so you have to run a good business to do the humanitarian as well. "
PartsSource is aligned with range of organizations: Healthcare organizations, groups that rehab. medical equipment, ministries and religious relief organizations, Chosen (an organization of retired Steris employees who rebuild sterilizers for world-wide ministries and other such groups for blood cell counters and mammography equipment).
Inspiration
PartsSources's humanitarian efforts emerged when Dalton decided to establish the for-profit business with a humanitarian operation that is completely funded through the company’s profits. On a trip to Romania with his local church he had an opportunity to assess some of the healthcare system there and found them to be devastating. Dalton noticed that 50% of the medical devices in Romanian hospitals didn’t work, and when he asked one of the physicians why he didn’t replace the non-functioning part he was told the cost of the part was equal to their annual budget. “A part that, in Romania, costs $20,000, is $800 here,” said Dalton.
Dalton beliefs and values come from his service in the U.S. Air Force and his childhood growing up in section 8 housing in the Watts area of Los Angeles. His philosophy is “You can change the course of your life, but it depends on the decisions you make along the way. Those decisions reflect the way we treat people we work with.”
“The more I become involved with the humanitarian business, the more successful I become as a capitalist.” A. Ray Dalton, CEO, PartsSource
PartsSource is the leader in managing the inventory of high quality medical equipment and parts consigned by charitable organizations and healthcare providers. It accepts medical equipment on consignment, or purchases it, and then donates the equipment to a charity, allowing for a fair market tax deduction. Once equipment is received by PartsSource it is carefully reviewed and, if applicable, separated to the parts assembly level. These parts are then made available at a substantial savings to end users who are currently utilizing the exact same piece of equipment. A portion of the revenue generated by the equipment transfer is returned to the consigning organization or a charity. This creates a profit from the (originally) discarded equipment.
PartsSource delivers tangible benefits to those in need while improving cash-flow for an organization. By donating through PartsSource the medical equipment provider can rest assured that the necessary medical equipment will end up in the hands of a legitimate charity that supports worldwide healthcare. This indirectly allows them the opportunity to provide relief to those in need.
Innovation
Humanitarian projects are selected by PartsSource either through requests from organizations through international organizations the company has a working relationship with, or by introduction to a project through a referral within their network. The core of the operation is to supply clinics and healthcare facilities with parts or equipment so they are able to be operational and deliver the services they were intended to provide. The humanitarian projects are supported through the PartsSource business which encourages hospitals or healthcare facilities to donate excess, discarded or end of life medical equipment (whose other options include trading it in to an OEM, or selling it to a broker or end user) to PartsSource which then tears it down to the parts level, lists the parts as inventory and will sell the parts of the donated equipment.
A. Ray Dalton, CEO of PartsSource, formed the initial plan as a humanitarian (non-profit) organization that would support healthcare facilities worldwide with necessary parts or equipment, but soon realized that he could be more effective by building a business, and using the business to fund the targeted projects. He had been a successful entrepreneur and wanted to build a profitable business with a humanitarian purpose. Dalton has built a $40 million dollar company on that basis.
Projects are active in Cuba, Haiti, Romania, Hungry, Viet Nam, Djibouti, and elsewhere. A three year project in India is underway to establish 25 clinics organized by the India Gospel League. In another instance, PartsSource has supported a pregnancy center in Cleveland with ultrasound equipment. The commitment is to select one charitable project each month -12 projects a year. These projects range from supplying a clinic in Cuba with 10,000 pairs of eyeglasses to establishing complete healthcare facilities. A tremendous advantage for any clinic is the company’s ability to acquire the part or piece of equipment at a fraction of the cost in the market place. A completely refurbished ultrasound machine was acquired for $7500 that would have cost the Cuban clinic $100,000. The eye glasses for the Cuban clinic were purchased for $1 per pair from a contact at Cole National’s Pearle Vision Centers.
When the PartsSource receives a request for a piece of medical equipment they check their inventory and if it’s not in stock they will try to solicit it from one of their resources or will purchase it. PartsSource’s humanitarian efforts are staffed, full time, by an ordained pastor as well as an engineer who has worked on healthcare devices. His full time job is to assist Dalton in selecting the projects and to ensure the equipment gets where it supposed to be. Equipment is purchased in consultation with the manager of the humanitarian operation. He evaluates the requests that come in. Conditions are attached to each request, and decisions to buy or refuse are placed on each one.
The innovation and uniqueness of the PartsSource approach is that everything contributed to a humanitarian project must be tested, fully operational and supported with manuals and back up parts for at least 36 months. “I’m not going to ship trash”, says Dalton. One of the requirements for the international projects is the three year plan of operations. Their process is to approach incoming equipment as an asset and determine how it can be managed the most efficient way to provide the greatest use.
The PartsSource philosophy is to sell the parts and buy books, band aids, whatever is needed. The innovation is not storing thousands of pieces in a warehouse, but converting fuel to what needs energy, though it may not be the exact fuel.
Impact
PartsSource does not know the exact numbers of additional patients served. They do know the “feel good” measurements as seen in the impact to the organizations that are supported. One year after each project they schedule a conference call and, at times, a visit to see how the project is going. They ask for status reports on utilization to determine whether the facilities are staffed, if the staff are seeing patients, and if the equipment is in regular use. PartsSource also tries to determine whether the original intent continues and whether they are accomplishing what they intended.
The most powerful impact may come when PartsSource employees look at the line of people waiting to get into the clinic and know that an investment of $10,000 will change so many lives for so little.
“We consider a project successful when we deliver a workable unit so the people in the organization can accomplish their mission”, said Dalton.
"Humanitarian efforts are our willingness to go outside of our own comfort zone, with commitment or dollars," says Dalton. "We’ve lived by the philosophy that our humanitarian efforts have to be first, our fiscal efforts have to be second. But if you’re a good fiscal manager you can do more humanitarian efforts, so you have to run a good business to do the humanitarian as well. "
PartsSource is aligned with range of organizations: Healthcare organizations, groups that rehab. medical equipment, ministries and religious relief organizations, Chosen (an organization of retired Steris employees who rebuild sterilizers for world-wide ministries and other such groups for blood cell counters and mammography equipment).
Inspiration
PartsSources's humanitarian efforts emerged when Dalton decided to establish the for-profit business with a humanitarian operation that is completely funded through the company’s profits. On a trip to Romania with his local church he had an opportunity to assess some of the healthcare system there and found them to be devastating. Dalton noticed that 50% of the medical devices in Romanian hospitals didn’t work, and when he asked one of the physicians why he didn’t replace the non-functioning part he was told the cost of the part was equal to their annual budget. “A part that, in Romania, costs $20,000, is $800 here,” said Dalton.
Dalton beliefs and values come from his service in the U.S. Air Force and his childhood growing up in section 8 housing in the Watts area of Los Angeles. His philosophy is “You can change the course of your life, but it depends on the decisions you make along the way. Those decisions reflect the way we treat people we work with.”
“The more I become involved with the humanitarian business, the more successful I become as a capitalist.” A. Ray Dalton, CEO, PartsSource
