Should I be positive or negative? Should I say “change is inevitable” or “death comes to all things”?

As you may know, our sister company, AMS, was one of the largest manufacturers of “x-ray viewboxes.” If I told you that between 2000 and 2014 there was a 95% drop in that business, I don’t think it would surprise you. If I told you that last year we managed to sell three motorized viewers (from a stock of “new” units one of our OEM’s had returned to us to help liquidate), I’m sure many of you would be shocked. And although AMD still can provide you with many “film-based” accessories like viewboxes and darkroom safelights, we lost another three competitors in the last eighteen months to bankruptcy or “old age” shut down.

So what do you think about the future of CR….the initial virus that killed viewboxes?
Will DR kill off CR? If so, how soon?

Here’s my take, but keep in mind I’m moving a lot of pre-owned imaging equipment – DR is killing it in the new sales area. There is no substitute for a great wireless system if you can afford the cost. It’s still pricey, but just wait another week and prices will drop…again. All of us, manufacturers and dealers alike, keep dropping prices until there isn’t enough profit to support a sale….but that’s just life in our version of a free market.

The key advantages of CR over DR were 1) positioning – fixed DR limited the type of studies, and 2) cost of replacement in case of accidental damage. Wireless DR eliminated the “flexibility” advantage CR had over DR, and “drop insurance” helped resolve the issue of accident replacement cost.

As I speak to dealers in North American and Europe, most report sales of new CR units are very low. Even with the drop in prices of new CR’s, most dealers tell me that their customers are opting for DR if they can get a good lease. If they can’t or if they have multiple locations they want to upgrade to digital, then a CR solution is great. They get the advantage of digital, pay a fraction of the cost and get a good OEM warranty to boot! They eliminate the uncertainty of limited (if any) warranty of a pre-owned equipment purchase, and the HIPAA issue of XP vs. Windows 7 is non-existent.

But the market for CR is still brisk in the pre-owned space and it’s a good deal for both dealers and end-users. Dealers have an opportunity to move their remaining processor customers to digital before one of their competitors does it and end-users get to go digital at a bargain price.

AMD is very active in the pre-owned CR market. We have staff that can upgrade Carestream (POC140), Fuji and iCRco CR systems to Windows 7 OS. We are also purchasing Carestream VITA systems for our “clean and tested” offerings. Since most of the pre-owned CR’s are moving into small practices and clinics, these are perfect units to fill these users’ needs. If you are not exploring this market niche now, you should consider it.

Until the start of this year, we were also doing a good business in the single reader systems typically sold to clinics and hospitals. These are the Kodak/Carestream 800, 850, Classic and Elite systems. They also include the Agfa 30X 25, and 35 series. Due to age, operating systems issues (HIPAA) and physical size and weight, this market seems to be drying up. We do ship a number of these units to South America, Asia and the Indian subcontinent area, but pricing is very aggressive. What our dealers get for these larger units is better than what the scrap man will pay and is a great return when dealers get these CR’s for the cost of removal, but there is no telling how long these opportunities will last.

The interesting thing is that the CR manufacturers keep coming up with new models. Do they know something we don’t know? Certainly there will be some new markets if they can make a product that a dealer can sell for under $10,000…or will they just start selling these models themselves on Amazon? But perhaps they keep hanging onto this market like we hung on to making viewboxes because no one was willing to say “stop.”

What’s your opinion?

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