The Name on the Box Isn't Always the Factory

Pick up a medical product and look at the name on the box. It's natural to assume that company made it. Often, it didn't.

Medical device companies increasingly hand production to specialized contract manufacturers around the world. The brand owner may design, market and sell the product, while another company runs the production line.

That matters if you buy for a clinic, a co-op or a distribution business, because it means there's often more than one way to get a product.

Going back to the factory floor

When a product is hard to get or costs too much, we don't stop at the brand owner. We search around the world for companies that make that product, or a similar off-patent one, and bring the equivalent in.

This isn't about finding the cheapest factory

We look for high-grade, regulated products from factories that already supply hospitals around the world. Price matters, but the product has to be right first. That's why samples go directly to the clinicians who'll use them.

Why a separate veterinary line helps

Manufacturers bid on large hospital contracts. When one wins a big contract, it may have to redirect product to fill it, and other markets can be left short. Veterinary clinics have felt this before. In the early days of COVID-19, clinics had trouble getting masks while production was geared toward human medical facilities.

A product brought in for a veterinary line isn't tied to that manufacturer's hospital contract. No supply chain is immune to disruption, but this gives you another source and takes one big risk out of the picture.

What goes on the box

Products we source this way carry the Vet Set name. That means clinics, co-ops and distributors can all buy the same line, and the combined demand is what makes it practical to keep making and stocking.

• Clinics: tell us what you can't get or what costs too much.
• Co-ops and buying groups: tell us what your members keep asking for.
• Distributors: carry the line, and tell us where your catalogue has gaps.

Not every idea will make sense, because the volume has to work. We'd rather tell you that in the first conversation than six months in.

Who you'd be working with

Vet Set is Canadian owned and operated, part of a family supply business that has been serving Canadian healthcare since 1991. Our products are sourced from factories around the world, and we ship across Canada from Edmonton.