Aramark announced yesterday the opening of a new center in Charlotte, North Carolina called the Healthcare Technology & Innovation Center. The 105,000 square-foot center, employing more than 140 people, will be used to develop more efficient and cost-effective ways for hospitals to manage clinical equipment.
The new center brings Aramark's biomedical engineering and diagnostic imaging services as well as the company's parts business all under one roof.
"The Aramark Technology & Innovation Center brings together all of our subject matter expertise, from supply chain to research and development, to bolster our capabilities to plan and manage customized programs that optimize our hospital partners' investment in clinical equipment assets," Victor Crawford, chief operating officer of Aramark's health care sector, said in a statement.
The new center includes patient care suites with more than 32 active MR, CT, catheterization laboratory, and X-ray systems. In those suites, engineers will undergo training and perform testing on all of the parts.
The suites also help the engineers stay on top of technical advancements so that Aramark can quickly react to customer demands and introduce new systems into hospitals to meet those demands.
ReMedPar, Aramark's branch that provides diagnostic and imaging parts and components, is integrated into the center. More than $40 million worth of parts is stored in a 90,000 square-foot facility with the most current quality control design.
The engineers at the center can digitally interface with specific equipment in Aramark's customer facilities, utilizing enhanced remote monitoring capabilities. They can often fix problems in real-time even before the facility is aware that there was a problem.
The center will also have a 24-hour customer service center with live technical help and part-ordering assistance.
"Innovation comes in many shapes and sizes and when clinical equipment in hospitals is not operable, it impacts patient care," Crawford said in a statement. "Aramark's aim is to extend our mission to enrich and nourish lives by leveraging the resources of this Technology & Innovation Center across our Healthcare Sector to help hospitals improve patient, physician and nurse satisfaction."
