Frost & Sullivan Acknowledges MESA for Competitive Strategy Innovation

LONDON, April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

- MESA Gains Competitive Ascendancy with its Best-in-Class, Cost-effective Solutions and Services

Based on its recent analysis of the medical equipment maintenance services market, Frost & Sullivan recognises Medical Equipment Solutions and Applications (MESA) with the 2011 Europe Frost & Sullivan Award for Competitive Strategy Innovation.

"The key competitive strengths of MESA include transparent, centralised turnkey Asset Management in a Multi-Vendor business model which guarantees greater uptime and shorter response times," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Kaavya Karunanithi. "Advanced technological tools and stringent quality compliance procedures provide clients with best-in-class, cost-effective services and solutions for all of their diagnostic imaging equipment."

MESA is the only independent, ISO 13485:2003 certified, pan-European multi-vendor maintenance services provider for the Diagnostic Imaging market segment in Europe, testifying to the strength of its brand and the quality of its internal processes and supply chain services. This certification demonstrates the rigorous quality compliance of the company as well as underlines MESA's competitive edge over other OEMs in the European market due to its 100% focus on Service delivery.

With strategic cost management identified as a key success factor, MESA promises a 15-30 per cent reduction in traditional maintenance costs. This is achieved by utilising a unique cost-effective strategy that involves "predictive maintenance" to reduce downtime, sophisticated repair technology and tools that reduce the cost of capital spare parts by 30-50 per cent which, in turn, reduces operating expenses. Other factors that allow MESA to reduce customers' operating expenses include supply chain optimization, lower overhead, and engineering utilization.

"Moreover, reduction of capital expenditure is enabled by maximising the total cost of ownership, regardless of the manufacturer," remarks Karunanithi. "This approach guarantees a 98 per cent or greater uptime, which is directly related to higher patient throughput and higher revenues."

In 2011, MESA achieved a proven uptime of 98.5 per cent across its European installed base. This result is well above some of the contractual commitments that are standard in many OEM contracts.

"Furthermore, the transparency of 'real time' equipment uptime, repair and maintenance data that MESA offers its clients via its web-based tools also enables it to enjoy a competitively advantageous position in Europe," states Karunanithi. "This is not offered by other maintenance service providers and OEMs in Europe."

MESA has an unbiased, independent and dedicated competitive intelligence team that continually enhances the value proposition offered to customers. As an integral part of its operations, MESA's competitive intelligence team conducts monthly reviews of tenders to identify further opportunities for growth. A quarterly in-depth inspection review aims at ensuring effective long-term management of all key customers.

"These best practices of MESA are supported by its efforts in leveraging its web-based tool called iDesk, which enables real-time reporting and status of all medical equipment under contract, as well as various operational processes," adds Karunanithi. "This dedicated web platform for client-company interface is the first-of-its-kind in the market and helps customers keep track of equipment uptime, preventive maintenance schedules and all historical service and repair interventions."

In the area of supply chain, MESA has a process that analyses the iDesk operational data to optimise its capital spare parts inventory content as well as locations of the stock. Their Imaging Modality Leaders monitor repair time and responsiveness across key Tier 1 diagnostic imaging modalities in order to support the field engineering teams and thus reduce system downtime by accessing prior repair history on like-systems, which helps it reduce system repair intervals equating to higher system uptime.

The Competitive Strategy Innovation Award is presented to the company that has demonstrated uniqueness of strategy, has improved its market position and has leveraged competitive intelligence.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About MESA

Medical Equipment Solutions & Applications GmbH (MESA) is a leading global provider of multi-vendor Diagnostic Imaging Service, Capital Spare Parts, Equipment and Asset Management solutions. A former Aramark Healthcare company headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, MESA leverages over 40 years' global experience in medical equipment maintenance services and repair solutions, and is the only pan-European diagnostic imaging service company providing scalable, multi-vendor maintenance services across all MRI, CT, PET CT, Angio/Cardiac and other general Xray system modalities from vendors such as GE, Philips, Siemens and Toshiba. MESA is accredited with the ISO 13485:2003 medical device Quality certification covering its core diagnostic imaging Service, Parts and Turnkey Refurbished Equipment solutions. For more information, please contact info@mesa-medical.com.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.

Contact:
Catherine Brassell
Best Practices
Frost & Sullivan
Email: catherine.brassell@frost.com
Tel: +27(0)21-680-3267