FlowCARE | Behind the Scenes
A look at who is behind the brand
Have you had the opportunity to listen to a FlowCARE Nurse Server presentation yet? If you have, then you are very familiar with one of the friendly faces behind FlowCARE, Kyle Patrick.
With a philosophy of taking a human-centric approach to all of the products Moduflex designs and engineers as part of the FlowCARE product line — Kyle Patrick is the guy that is enthusiastic about being able to connect with people like you. What drives him to do what he does every day is to create relationships, listen to his audience, and help solve your pain points related to all things healthcare storage and efficiencies.
The Experience That Led to FlowCARE
So how did Kyle get to presenting solutions that are designed specifically to create efficient access to supplies and make sure healthcare professionals can do what they do best — concentrate on patient care?
Well, it didn’t just start when he met Taylor Gilbreath, —the owner of Midwest Storage Solutions and Moduflex— his dedication and approach to solving challenges started at his first job out of college as a drafter at an SMB casework manufacturer. Kyle’s basis of understanding of manufacturing operations and leadership was established in his 11 years there. His management roles included Engineering, Procurement and Inventory, Operations, and Project Management.
Ready for his next challenge, he was recruited to create and drive a new division in the healthcare industry of a small franchise manufacturer. The company had found success providing solutions for small retail and offices but wanted to expand its offering to provide casework solutions in large hospitals. In building this new division, Kyle oversaw Engineering, Manufacturing, and Project Management operations.
After setting up a successful division of the company — Kyle wanted to further broaden his experience and spent the next four years outside of manufacturing and oversaw a distribution center, a division of a large company that employed 100,000+ people worldwide. Kyle was quickly promoted to start a new line to bring other divisions of the company into a SaaS model.
After a few years outside of manufacturing, Kyle couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get back into the manufacturing business at his previous company. This time around though, besides seeing operations again, he was charged with creating new product lines for both existing and new customers. The decision to return to his old stomping grounds laid the groundwork to create what we know today as the FlowCARE product line.
Some Q&A with Kyle
A: Taylor saw the need in the marketplace after hearing from healthcare professionals that something new needed to be created for pass-through nurse servers. The existing ones were millwork and ultimately tall cabinets with shelves. There was no structure within the design of the cabinet.
Taylor developed the initial concept that addressed the pain points of access and organization and developed an initial prototype with pending patents for the design. At that time, Taylor came to the manufacturer that I was working for looking for a partner. I oversaw engineering and manufacturing and together we began to redesign what he had started to create even greater efficiencies in usability and function. From there, for the next six months, we were producing prototypes and would demo them to any of the hospitals that would give us a few minutes of their time. It was a human-centric approach that allowed us to learn directly from the end-users if the product was solving their challenges or not. You could even go so far as to say that FlowCARE became co-developed with our potential customers.
About a year and a half into this, we knew we were definitely on the right track and it was time to take the next step. When I believe in something, I am going to go all the way and am committed — so committed, that Taylor and I decided it was time to create a new company, Moduflex, with the FlowCARE Nurse Server as our main product.
A: The original design of FlowCARE was actually an 18” wide cabinet. Until recently, we had not sold even one 18” wide FlowCARE cabinet. Through our process and conversations with healthcare professionals and architects we learned from feedback and real-world experience, we need to design to utilize the space the hospital actually has. This speaks to where a lot of companies fall short — a lot of times, the ‘inventor’ believes they know what’s best instead of getting as much customer-centric feedback as possible. While we continued to offer the 18” cabinet, we learned that 24” wide was the most common size for us to make an efficient space for healthcare professionals.
A: I would say the amount of effort, logistics, and overall challenges that come with bringing a product and company to market. The challenges in establishing a ‘go-to-market’ plan are complex to navigate. Our approach to business has helped tremendously — we inherently lead with the customer and their feedback and that makes us as an organization be overall flexible. Because if we aren’t flexible or agile, then we know the problem or pain points that the customer is experiencing will never be solved.
On the other hand, not only do the heavy lifts take time and learning, but the ‘small’ thing also proves challenging at times as well. Simple things like tradeshows and catching all of the details of a show to make sure you are well presented or the logistics of a major metro and in-person presentations. While our demo unit is a mini version of our cabinet, it definitely not something I can carry down an elevator. We’ll just say there is never a dull moment and we are always learning!
A: Repeat customers. We are about five to six years into this business and have been fortunate enough to have worked with various architectural firms multiple times on different projects and even multiple projects for the same healthcare system. Considering a lot of our projects are two to three-year-long projects this speaks volumes about how important customer service and partnering with our clients is to us.
A: Mentorship has played an important role in my career. Over the last 20 years, I’ve been a mentor to a lot of my coworkers. And I frequently speak with my mentors. I would say, there have been two main mentors that have helped shape and mold the evolution of my career.
I know I am not the smartest person in the room, nor do I want to be — it’s so important to me to continue to work with subject matter experts and various leaders that share their knowledge and insights.
There are two mentors that have really made an impact on me. Tom Hicks, former HDR VP of Architecture — he was in that role for 17 years until he retired. He is now a Partner with Safe Health Solutions, LLC. He has provided me so much insight over the years at dinners and calls to understand the ins and outs of the architecture, construction, and casework world. He played such an informative role on how to partner with architecture firms when we started FlowCARE.
My other mentor, Jay Froscheiser, is now a Club Pilates franchise owner — but was previously the Senior VP of Financial Analytics/Customer Experience at DTN for a number of years. His insight was invaluable in helping me navigate the corporate environment early in my career. Still to this day we catch up over lunches and discuss business strategies.
A: On the one hand, like many companies, we want to grow fast where every healthcare system knows our name and product. But on the other hand, that hasn’t been our personality and culture. Our approach to business has been to put everything we have into every project and product, whether our client has a 500-bed hospital or a ten-bed hospital. This approach has allowed us to put the customer first and evolve our product by listening to the needs and pains of our clients. Beyond our installations, we have onboarded two new strategic partners in the last twelve months and developed a new line of medical office cabinets. We are excited to launch these to the market, as once again, they were designed and developed by listening to our client’s pain points and to make their jobs easier.
More than a Nurse Server
Kyle’s enthusiasm for the solutions Moduflex has designed and provides to the healthcare professionals across the country is contagious. His approach to business is more than just the physical product — he is passionate about helping to make a healthcare professional’s job easier and more efficient, by listening to them. Leading with a customer-centric approach requires agility and responsiveness that ultimately results in developing a product that is more than just a cabinet with organization inside. It’s a solution that helps nurse staff find supplies more efficiently, helps healthcare providers spend more time with the patient, and reduces healthcare-associated infections.
He understands how important all of this is — not only with what the world has endured the past two years — but it hits home as his wife is in the medical profession as well. So next time you have a chance to meet Kyle, don’t be shy — he would love to talk with you about all things healthcare and much more!
