INDUSTRY UPDATES
RPI CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY Replacement Parts Industries Inc. (RPI), the original aftermarket parts company for health care equipment, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, according to a news release. RPI is an industry leader in providing quality replacement and repair parts for medical and dental equipment. The company’s strong commitment to its customers and the health care industry is the focal point of its continued success. When RPI opened it doors back on February 29, 1972, quality was its first concern as it introduced its original 19 parts for autoclaves. It was imperative to RPI that their parts were as good or better than the manufacturer’s original equipment parts. And that holds true even more so in today’s quality conscience marketplace. In fact, throughout its 50-year history, RPI has always maintained that its parts are guaranteed to each customer’s 100% complete satisfaction. Several milestones have marked the success of RPI over these 50 years. In 1999, the founders of RPI, Sherry and Al Lapides, passed the baton to their son, Ira Lapides, who was asked by the board of directors to become the company’s vice president, and later president and CEO. It was under Ira’s leadership that RPI soared to even greater heights. It’s incredible how RPI stills caters to the needs of the industry. The company’s secret, according to Lapides, “is communicating with our customers on a regular basis and incorporating their feedback into our product development plan.” RPI expanded its goal of manufacturing parts that meet or exceed the OEM’s performance. As of this year, RPI boasts of more than 4,500 parts to fit more than 50 lines of health care equipment including more than 100 different models for medical and dental equipment. The company continues to develop a vast array of one-of-a-kind parts, value added parts and kits, as well as end-user friendly parts to assist biomedical equipment technicians and service professionals with their own goal of ensuring the highest level of service. What’s more, two of RPI’s engineers invented a catalytic converter for a hydrogen peroxide sterilizer vacuum pump assembly, and as a result, RPI became the proud owner of U.S. Patent 10,610,828. In addition, RPI is dedicated to offering the health care industry an extensive knowledge base of information about servicing and maintaining equipment. From being the first company in the health care industry to offer a website dedicated to repair and replacement parts including a comprehensive Technical Assistance Center compiled of informative “how-to” videos and presentations, trouble-shooting guides, technical assistance articles complete with diagrams and photos, to offering free technical assistance via the phone with an experienced RPI Tech, RPI’s commitment to the industry is ever expanding. RPI also introduced Planned Maintenance (PM) Month, and it is celebrated by its customers every June with a free PM poster from RPI. The poster is developed and designed by RPI with the intention of reminding the industry of the importance that regular PM programs play in the well-being of their equipment. Posters are created using lively themes to present PM information and service tips. It has become a valuable resource and work tool for health care service professionals. This year also marks RPI’s 22nd year as being ISO 9001 certified. One of the primary tenants of ISO 9001, the international standard for quality
24
TECHNATION
APRIL 2022
management systems, is continuous improvement. This concept requires the certified company to put in place processes that allow the company to always be looking for ways to improve itself, be it in service, products, internal processes or any other aspect of the business. “RPI has been ISO 9001 certified since the year 2000, but I think we have always had a philosophy of continuous improvement. Questioning, searching for answers, and better ways of doing things was instilled in the company’s value system long ago, and has helped RPI to continue to grow throughout our history. While we have consistently produced high-quality parts and established excellent systems, ISO prompts us to do even better. We believe that ISO helps RPI maintain the level of excellence required in today’s marketplace,” stated Lapides. “Looking to the future, we always strive to do what is best for our customers, so after 50 years of tremendous success, I am pleased that we are now an integral part of the Healthcare Components Group (HCG). It was our choice to sell RPI and to become a vital part of the newly formed HCG family of brands dedicated to providing quality components and replacement parts to the health care industry. Our HCG affiliate companies, American Optics (AOERP), Micro Optics Europe (MOE), and Endoscopy Development Company (EDC), are global leaders in the flexible and rigid endoscope replacement parts and components parts industry. RPI’s commitment to our customers remain as strong as it always has been since opening our doors in 1972, and our focus will continue to be on providing them with what they have come to expect from us – quality parts, excellent technical support and outstanding customer service. We are proud of our 50 years of excellence, and look forward to many more years of success as part of the HCG family,” Lapides stated. For more information, visit rpiparts.com.
WWW.1TECHNATION.COM