Last week, Metalcraft was able to attend the Medical Design & Manufacturing trade show in Minneapolis, Minn. This show features everything in the healthcare industry from sterilization equipment, to CNC Machine tools, to packaging, labeling and bar coding. Any kind of equipment the healthcare industry might use; you will find it at this show. This, in turn, presented Metalcraft with an eye-opening opportunity.
Because this was the first time Metalcraft had attended this show, we weren't quite sure what to expect. When we arrived, however, we realized that all of the exhibitors were potential customers for us. In the business of manufacturing identification solutions, there are an unlimited number of potential customers who need to identify the equipment they manufacture, which can make it hard for us to know exactly who our customers are. After we attended this show, we were able to look at the number of different OEM companies with different identification needs, and figured out that we needed to expand our marketing horizons.
When we took a look at the healthcare industry previously, what we saw were things like intravenous pumps, monitors and defibrillators; most of which are stored directly inside a hospital or other patient care facility. What we are now looking at because of the show are things like electronic components, lasers, subassemblies, plastics and a whole realm of "behind-the-scenes" assets, so to speak.
Although the show's attendance was impacted by Superstorm Sandy, we still took away some valuable marketing tools and ideas for the future. We hope to be in touch with these exhibitors to show them the value of identifying their equipment with a permanent ID tag and demonstrate the label they use should be as durable as the equipment it is identifying.