Challenge
A multi-campus hospital runs hundreds of med carts with casters from many vendors. Daily disinfectants corrode them, procurement places emergency orders every few weeks, and maintenance spends hours hunting for matching replacements.
Solution
Audit the cart fleet, standardize on a stainless medical caster across all carts in a few SKUs (light, med and heavy supply cart), and set up a standing order with consistent SKUs and net-30 terms.
What typically changes
What typically changes — a handful of SKUs instead of a caster graveyard, planned replacements instead of emergency orders, and swaps from a small bin inventory. Results vary by facility; we do not publish customer figures.
Illustrative scenario. This page describes a typical situation and the way Douglas specifies for it. It is not an account of a specific customer, and it contains no customer figures or quotes.
Background
Miami-Dade has dozens of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers running thousands of mobile carts — med carts, surgical instrument carts, dietary, pharmacy, laundry, IV poles and supply transport. A multi-campus system can have several hundred med carts in service at any time.
The Specification Problem
The pattern: casters fail within months, procurement orders from whichever vendor answers first, and the result is a “caster graveyard” of mixed sizes, mount types and tread materials, with maintenance hunting for matches.
The root cause is usually not the casters themselves. It is:
- Corrosion from daily disinfectant exposure (chlorine, peracetic acid)
- Inconsistent specs across carts from different OEMs
- No standardized replacement program — every fix is a one-off
What Douglas Specs
After a walk-through with facilities and maintenance:
- 316 stainless steel housings — for aggressive sanitizers
- Sealed bearing pack — keeps chemicals out
- TPR (thermoplastic rubber) tread — quiet, non-marking, chemical-resistant
- Total-lock brakes — for patient transport
- Standardized SKUs — a few SKUs to cover the fleet (light cart, med cart, heavy supply cart)
A standing-order program keeps the same SKUs in stock on net-30 terms for approved accounts.
Why This Approach Works
The value is in the audit. Ask the right questions about cleaning chemicals, floor types, transport distances and noise, and the specification matches the application the first time.
About this page: an illustrative scenario built from the kind of application Douglas specifies for in South Florida healthcare. Call (305) 888-3700 to talk through your cart fleet.
Products Used
- Colson 4-Series medical casters
- 316 stainless steel
- Total-lock brake configuration
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