Among medical equipment makers, DOTmed Certified Daniel Giesberg, President of American Medical Sales, Inc. (AMS), has broken the usual business mold. His company is an OEM that sells radiological peripherals but has recently begun repairing and selling his distributors' wares on the net as well.

Giesberg's background provides clues to his success. Right out of college he worked for the Dean of Finance at the University of Texas Medical School, Houston. He left academia for business school and then went to work for a software consulting company that specialized in inventory control and manufacturing processes.

"I've always worked in a medical, manufacturing or computing environment," Giesberg says. "I'm constantly looking for the connections among these disciplines to add more selling power to my efforts."

Since he bought AMS in 1981, he has sold new radiological products, first for the film markets as the prior owner did; and since 1995, for the digital imaging markets. Giesberg calls AMS a "soup-to-nuts" provider, being a large manufacturer of such devices as X-ray illuminators and darkroom products. Giesberg taps his computer skills to write PACS software and says he has installed more than 400 applications. Recently, Giesberg has jumped into the secondary market with an innovative scheme: he's refurbishing and selling his distributors' assorted collection of medtech devices--many whose warranties have long expired.

Giesberg concludes, "I'm 55 years old. I know that the way my peers get their information and buy things is radically different from the way the 20 and 30-year olds, who will soon be our purchasers, get theirs.

"One of the reasons I look to DOTmed is to figure out where our customers are going to be buying medtech devices in the future. More and more customers are going to sites like DOTmed and we want to be there when they come calling," Giesberg says.

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