SPS Medical Supply Corp.

About SPS Medical Supply Corp.: Medical supply and manufacturing company.

Rank on Top 100: 76

Top Executives: Ms. Nancy Hughes, president; Mr. Gary Socola, vice president of scientific affairs; Mr. Charles Hughes, general manager

Employees: 51

Website: www.spsmedical.com

We asked Nancy Hughes, president, to talk about her business.

Question: Tell me briefly about SPSmedical Supply Corp.
Hughes: SPSmedical Supply Corp. is a privately held, woman-owned business which provides sterility assurance products and services to hospitals, surgery centers, physicians, dentists, veterinarians, and medical device manufacturers worldwide. Our core business values drive our passion for infection prevention by speaking to national, regional and local audiences on sterility assurance and infection control topics and offer a variety of educational materials and sponsorships. We are nearing completion of an expansion, nearly doubling the size of our facility in Henrietta. This expansion exemplifies the continuous growth we are experiencing in the marketplace

Question: What services does your company provide?
Hughes: SPSmedical markets a comprehensive line of sterility assurance products including biological indicators, chemical indicators, integrators, packaging and record keeping products. In addition, our R&D/testing laboratory provides validation testing for medical device manufacturers. We distribute educational materials on infection control procedures such as how to "clean, package, and sterilize medical instruments". In addition to producing these products under our own brand name, we also have an extensive base of private-label customers throughout the various health care markets.

Question: What does it mean to your business to be recognized by the Rochester Business Alliance as one of Rochester's Top 100 Companies?
Hughes: It is an honor to be recognized for this achievement. This recognition represents the hard work, dedication, and excellent customer service provided by all of our employees.

Question: What additional services can the Rochester Business Alliance provide to help your business?
Hughes: Assist us in helping to reduce the cost of health care to the community. We provide innovative products at a reasonable price to the health care industry, saving medical facilities a considerable amount on their sterility assurance consumables.

Question: What educational programs does your company provide?
Hughes: SPSmedical provides on the job training as well as classroom training where appropriate. In the past we have received training grants administered by Rochester Works Inc. and the Rochester Business Alliance.

Question: What are the best and worst things about doing business in Rochester?
Hughes: We have a large pool of job seekers in the area so we have been able to fill our open positions rather quickly. We would like to see improvements in the cost of doing business in New York. Reducing tax rates and insurance costs are high on the list. We were fortunate to receive assistance with expansion projects and equipment purchases from the County of Monroe with the JobsPlus program and the Great Rebate program. These programs help to offset the high cost of doing business in New York.

Question: What are the biggest opportunities you see ahead?
Hughes: We have the opportunity to continue to grow as we develop innovative and cost competitive products for the medical industry. While serving on the standard setting committees of organization such as AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) we have the opportunity to support better sterilization standards for the health care industry. As we continue to focus on infection control education for health care workers, the result will be better patient outcomes. Our new marketing and production areas will give us physical resources to meet the demands of our increasing sales.