HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.

Culture Over Cost: Building People Before Profits with Desco & Ray America | Part 3 of 4

• Bryant Hawkins Sr. • Episode 93

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In Part 3 of our Uptime Services Dental Summit series, HTM On The Line host Bryant Hawkins Sr. sits down with two leaders who are redefining what service really means.

Andrea Bordenca of DESCO shares how her team’s vision to be the global model of customer service is shaping a culture that puts people first, from employees to clients. Then, Alex Federal of Ray America dives into the future of dental imaging and shows how innovation and integrity can go hand-in-hand in a tech-driven world.

From field service to facial scanning, this conversation reminds us that the future of HTM isn’t just about maintaining equipment, it’s about elevating how we serve others.

Big thanks to our partners: College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, A.M. BICKFORD, INC., UptimeServices, MD Publishing, Innovative Radiology AND GMC Healthcare Solutions. Your support keeps the HTM mission alive!

This podcast is produced by the B-Hawk Network.

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SPEAKER_01:

You know, sometimes the best connections happen when purpose meets preparation. Here at the Uptime Services Dental Summit, it's not just about equipment, it's about people who see beyond what is and imagine what could be. This is part three of our full-part series, and today we're exploring the heart of innovation, where HTM meets the dental world. You'll hear from Andrea Padenka of DESCO, whose culture of care is changing the service game. And Alex Federal from Re America, who's proving that when technology and integrity align, everyone wins. This is HTM on the line with Bryant Hawkins Sr. We're recording from the Uptime Service Dental Summit. Let's get into it. Good friend of mine. I'm gonna let you let the world know who I'm talking to. Who am I talking to?

SPEAKER_02:

Who are you talking to? This is Andrea Bordenka. Hello, hello, hello.

SPEAKER_01:

How are you doing, Andrea?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm great. I'm having an awesome time. It's been a good uh couple days.

SPEAKER_01:

Pleasant surprise to see you last night.

SPEAKER_02:

I know. I was delighted when I saw you. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome, awesome. So, Desco, give us a shot, even though some know, but just tell us about Desco and short, what you do at Desco.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so we're, you know, in the HTM industry, of course. And our vision really speaks a lot to who we are and what we do. So our vision is to be the global model of customer service. And it doesn't mean that we aspire to be international. What it means is that that's our beacon for how we do work, how we treat each other, how we treat our customers. So, you know, just this morning I was talking to somebody about, you know, that we don't go into every we not every customer is a good fit for us because our employees stay at DESCO for a long time. We invest a lot in training, our benefits are great, you know, everyone has a Costco membership. We try to take care of people as best we can, especially as like the economy and prices are increasing. And so if, you know, when we're qualifying our customers, we ask about the long-term relationship. We're not ones to go and sharpen our pencil. We are in it for the long haul. So if someone's looking for like, you know, the cheapest pricing, or if they have one particular medical device at a clinic or a hospital site, that's not a good fit for us because we don't want to stretch our staff so thin because we do mostly field service that we're doing it and chasing the dollars. So we really want like the money, the financial viability is important for the investment that we make in our employees and also the investment we make in our customers as partners. So, you know, the medical, the technical part, you know, we do, we do what we do in the different modalities, but it's really who we are as a culture that really matters to me, the relationships.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome. Awesome. So now we're here at a Uptown Services Dental Summit.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, we are in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_01:

So what brings you here?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you know, my sister lives 20 minutes away. So that was definitely a big plus. I got to spend the day with her yesterday, which was beautiful. And, you know, I have there's, I think there's eight of us from the DESCO team that are here in a variety of positions. So we have several, about half of that are field service technicians and engineers. And then we also have people from the leadership team that are here. And really, we're investing in the dental industry. So it's becoming a part of HTM, which makes so much sense. What I really love about it is the accessibility, the fast turnaround for training. It's very specific. Every dental operatory has the same types of equipment. So there aren't a lot of barriers to entry. And so we're really looking to grow with uptime in this market and develop the workforce needed as we know in HTM and dental now is a part of that. It's the same type of challenge that people are aging out. And, you know, like you, getting the information about who we are and what we do to high school students, to middle school students. So we're building that workforce development strategy and plan. That's what I'm here for is how do we come into this market and also knowing that there aren't a whole lot of barriers to entry, how can we support the growth of uptime, this industry, the, you know, people looking, you know, young folks who are looking for what might be their career development. Is there a way we can create a platform for high school students or people coming right out of high school to enter into this market with our support? So I see an opportunity here for the industry and the growth, and that really excites me. So that's what brought me here.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh man, you you took three of the questions I was about to ask you, but you answered what I thought about. But I'm gonna just this one here. I mean, you you got field service guys here, so no doubt you work in hospitals and probably clinics.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's see, how do you think DESCO will be able to balance that hospital clinics versus dental offices?

SPEAKER_02:

So we have a few different divisions. We have in-house, so we are the in-house, you know, you knock on the door and we're there. And then we have the field service, which is direct to hospital or direct to surgery center or direct to clinic. So DESCO has a relationship with the hospital or system themselves. We also are a manufacturer rep. So we work with actually thousands of different manufacturers and we come in as if we are them. And there's one other, so there are a couple of other industries that we've entered into using the staffing model. We've gotten really good at staffing and building territories. So we have this relationship with in an OEM called acuity lighting. And actually, the lighting that's in the room that we were in, the conference room where the awesome keynote was this morning, the panels, the lights, that those are acuity, actually. Those are acuity lights. We did not install them. Actually, we might have. We might have installed them. Yeah, we might have installed them. There it's called Fresno. It's a really cool line. But anyway, so lighting is not healthcare. It's, you know, in hotels, it's in targets, it's in stadiums, it's in libraries. But the model is similar where they have a project somewhere, they need an installer. And so we're we've taken the model of field service and communication and being able to understand what's your need, what's the demand, how do we coordinate together. And we've gone into different industries with that. So we also service ice machines in movie theaters and hotels. So we want to change again the model, our vision is to be the model of customer service. So across all industries. So we are primarily HTM. However, we're able to take that staffing model and apply it in different sectors. So the next one we're developing a division in is HVAC. We'll probably do plumbing at some point because we do a lot of sterilizers. So the interesting thing about DESCO, I think, is that we started doing lab service in 1970. And then, you know, over time that evolved and like demand increased. So people were like, hey, you service lab stuff, can you do this stuff? And we kind of grew organically. In the 90s, we started doing sterilizers. Now, you know, sterilizers are their own animal and they require, you know, different skill set. And so what we found is from the 90s until today is that with sterilizers in particular, and with general biomed medical devices, is that if you have people who are really good troubleshooters, you can cross-train. And so we've we've had a lot of people who have said to us, you can't do that. You can't be successful as a, you know, doing the biomed and also the sterilizer because they're so different in the skill set. And I beg to differ. We're doing that and we're growing and we're doing that quite well. And so why not take the transferable skills and, you know, train a whole bunch of people, cross-train a whole bunch of people on different modalities in different industries across different sectors. It's really working for us. So what that's what we're continuing to do.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think dental is almost, like you said, perfect. Because with a sterilizer, you got compressors. So that works in line with dental repairs because they have compressors. That's one of their main tools.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly right. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, thank you for sitting down with me. You know, I'm surprised I was able to get just 12 minutes. You know, I thought I might have to pull you down, but you you cut it short.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, I saw you out, man. No, thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Appreciate you coming and talk to me. And you know you're always welcome.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. Appreciate you. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01:

Bye.

unknown:

Bye.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, we got another guest on HTM On the Line, Mr. Alex Federal. And how you doing, Alex?

SPEAKER_00:

Doing great. How are you?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, man, great. How are you enjoying the summit?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, it's been fantastic so far. Fantastic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

First time in Charlotte?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I actually born and raised here. I live here. Really?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh-huh. You're the first person I've met that's born and raised here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we're unicorns. We don't really exist that much anymore. Although we got a lot of northerners moving here. Literally.

SPEAKER_01:

Everybody that met was from another state, but they live here. 100%. So like Atlanta. Okay. Well, my calling you the previous guest. Alex, so tell me a little bit about Ray. So I'm assuming your name is not Ray now, because it's Alex. That's right. So what's Ray about?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, Ray America, you know, we we do the full scope from a dental imaging standpoint, specializing in CBCTs, panos. We're very well known for facial scanning, mill sensors, software, handheld. So we we really have the full gambit as it pertains to overall dental imaging.

unknown:

Great, great.

SPEAKER_01:

So what problems does your company solve for technicians or healthcare facilities?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. So for healthcare facilities, really CBCT imaging as well as the facial scanning aspect is really going to solve a couple problems. One, diagnosis, just because we live in a three-dimensional world. So if your entire world is two dimensions and that's that's what your imaging is, you're missing a lot. So that's number one. Number two, with uh with the facial scanning aspect, being able to superimpose that with C BCT, we greatly enhance the overall consultation ability. So we we solve the problem of hearing no. A lot of patients are going to say no because they don't they don't trust the doctor, right? They didn't believe what they're what they're telling them. So anytime you can incorporate a facial scanning aspect with a C BCT, you can really help that. And from solving the problem from a technician standpoint, we've we've made a few, added a few components to our devices that really specifically help the technicians. Number one is our CBCT units are free standing. So industry-wide, the vast majority have a bracket that you have to bolt into the wall. So you have to worry about where the backing is. Sometimes you're putting up, you know, big wood plank or opening the wall to add more. Ours are completely freesting. And so we have a weighted balanced base that helps with that. So that's number one that makes install much easier. Number two, we are basically putting a virtual technician in every single office. So this is something that's very unique to us. It's a program called Ray Guard, where it's an IoT solution that is built into every CBCT network that we provide that monitors the CBCT health 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will send us a signal if there's a part that's failing. So there's none of this guesswork. The former company I used to work for is much like all the others out there, where if they have a problem, a support technician logs in and then they just start troubleshooting and they guess. They said, Oh, it could be one of these five parts. So let's send these five parts and your service technician goes on site and they try them out. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. We have self-diagnosis through Ray Guard. So we know what the problem is. There's none of this guesswork. So your technicians can be the hero by fixing it the very first time they're on site.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, wow. That's excellent.

SPEAKER_00:

So this is your first summit? This is my first summit.

SPEAKER_01:

It is really wow. So what are you showcasing? You have everything you just mentioned here?

SPEAKER_00:

So it's it's tough to bring a whole cone beam here. So uh what we do have in person is our ray face, which is the facial scanning aspect. So we have the only facial scanner on the market that was specifically designed for dentistry. So the image quality on it is spectacular. It it captures the three-dimensional facial scan image in only half a second. Wow. So it's incredibly convenient for offices. And we actually provide it with our cone beam at no charge. That's a new promotion that we have this year, and it's it's been highly effective. We've had a tremendous year thus far. So we do have our ray face here. So if anybody that is here wants a facial scan, they can come by and get one. And what's really cool about our software is there's a QR code at the end that you can scan, and your facial scan goes to your cell phone. So you can actually take your facial scan home with you and you can manipulate it on your own phone. Uh so it's pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm about to get a scan today, man. Absolutely. So, how long have you been in this industry?

SPEAKER_00:

So I have been in the dental industry 16 years. Oh, really? So you've definitely seen it evolve. I have. I have seen I've seen quite a bit of evolution for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

So so with all this new changes with AI and all that coming in, where do you see it going?

SPEAKER_00:

Honestly, you you just you just said it. AI. I think uh where the industry is headed is is more technology dependent. Yes. Which, you know, I'm in the technology side, uh, so I should say it's a great thing. It I'm I'm mixed on how how much, you know, doctors are all about technology now, at least most young ones. And they they basically want technology to do their job for them at this point. So I think there is a fine line with how much you should allow your technology to to do your job for you. And that's uh that might be a different take than most people expect coming from someone that that sells technology. But I I think we are headed to a place where, you know, eventually that is going to happen. Unfortunately, I do think there's, you know, companies out there that maybe overblow AI capabilities and that sort of thing. And it could, it could end up putting, you know, doctors in a bad spot. But we utilize AI components. We have all these capabilities as well. I just believe in in pure honesty with uh clinicians on on managing expectations on, you know, especially when you're having technology do things for you that are that could put you in a litigious situation, you know, driving an implant through a nerve because it was automatically traced, right? So things like that. But I I just think there's gonna be an even greater dependence on technology as we move forward and as technology evolves, it's it really can be a great thing for the clinicians as well as technicians. So yeah, it's it's all about the technology going forward. Great, right. Well, thank you for your time, Alex. Federal.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, absolutely no. Thank you. This was uh it was great chatting with you. Yeah, appreciate it, man. Take care. Thank you. If there's one thing today's conversation made clear, it's this innovation doesn't start with technology, it starts with people who care enough to make things better. Whether it's Tesco redefining what customer service looks like, or Rey America blending AI with real-world integrity. Both stories remind us that progress isn't about replacing people, it's about empowering them. And that's what this summit is really about seeing the future before it arrives and preparing the hands and hearts that will build it. So, to every technician, leader, and dreamer listening, keep expanding your reach, keep refining your craft, and keep elevating the standard. Because the next chapter of healthcare technology might just start with you. This is HTM on the line. I'm your host, Bryant Hawkins Sr. Stay inspired, stay ready, and remember when we show up, the purpose of uptime isn't just about equipment. It's about y'all be safe out there.

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