What do you value in the companies you do business with? Many of us know the benefits of buying everyday goods locally. It helps create local jobs and stimulates the economy where you live. Have you considered the impact of buying from a family-owned company when selecting the reliable medical supplies your facility uses every day?
When you consider the largest family-owned companies in America, odds are you already rely on at least one for your car, cable TV or everyday shopping. Some of the principles that made Walmart, Cargill and Comcast so huge also apply to Caresfield as a family-owned and U.S.-based medical supply manufacturer and distributor.
Reliable Supply Chain
Firstly, let’s discuss supply chain. In a recent blog post, we examined how our domestically manufactured labels help stabilize supply chain issues. In addition to making our labels, we store our products in the U.S. This means you will never run into backorders with Caresfield. You’ll get reliable medical supplies on time.
While warehousing stock goes against the trend of just-in-time inventory practices prevalent in the healthcare industry, it helps ensure our customers are never left in need of supplies. Furthermore, Caresfield pays livable wages to warehouse employees.
Warehouse staff may not seem like a key factor until you consider who pulls your order off the shelves, packages it and sends it to your facility. By paying a fair wage, we keep a quality team. They stay for a long time, building experience and growing more efficient.
By making and storing products in the U.S. with a skilled staff processing orders, Caresfield ensures our customers have a reliable supply chain of essential supplies.
Lower Prices
Your goal is to provide the best patient care for the lowest possible price. To keep our prices low and remain competitive in a healthcare marketplace with huge distributors, Caresfield must carefully control costs.
One way we do so is to avoid paying on credit. While many companies negotiate expenses on net 30 or net 60 terms, Caresfield generally pays for raw materials and supplies outright. This gives us more negotiating power and generally keeps prices lower, which is ultimately reflected in our pricing.
Flexibility
One of the biggest benefits of working with a family-owned company is enhanced flexibility. When a publicly traded company reports to shareholders, every dollar is tightly watched. It can influence customer service.
If you buy labels from a company outside of Caresfield, imagine running out of stock of blood tube labels. Especially if you use a custom option, perhaps with your health system’s logo. If your regular vendor is out of stock, or imports labels from another country, you could face long backorders. Can your facility afford to run out?
Caresfield has flexibility to increase production if needed. In the blog post mentioned above, Caresfield Director of Supply Chain and Operations Wade Blom shared an anecdote about shifting the production schedule to accommodate a customer.
“We recently had a new customer reach out after trying to order labels from three other distributors,” Blom said. “First, we had 43 cases on hand which shipped next day air. Then we moved the order to the front of our production schedule and had the remainder of their 150-case order ready for shipment on Noon the next day. I don’t think anyone else in the industry is willing and able to do this for all their customers.”
As a private company, Caresfield has the flexibility to adjust production and other processes. Changes don’t need to go through a lengthy approval process. This flexibility helps us provide incredible customer service.
Best-in-class Customer Service
Caresfield’s commitment to customer service goes beyond the production lines. Our phones and our live online chat are staffed by real people. When you call, you’ll talk to an actual person who can help resolve any issues.
When you combine the reliable supply chain, competitive prices, flexibility and customer service, it makes a lot of sense to do business with Caresfield! We are proud to be family owned and U.S.-based.
