Innovative Ideas for Laboratory Improvement

Efficiency is crucial in any workplace, but none more so than in a laboratory.

Innovative ideas for laboratory improvement in areas like time-saving, energy, and budgetary productivity without sacrificing the quality of your work help maintain an efficient, smooth-running environment.

Having a laboratory improvement plan can help you optimise your workflow and get the best economical results.

Here are several useful lab improvement tricks for the trade:

Evaluate process

Before you even begin to design an improvement plan, you’ll want to identify and evaluate any inefficient processes you currently have in place, by thoroughly examining your processes and creating a detailed outline. Walk through your lab and take note of any steps that take longer than expected, anything that appears to lack a certain something, and other noticeable areas for improvement. As you create an efficiency plan and refine your processes, ensure you standardise them across your laboratory to reduce errors and improve productivity.

Consider the layout

An effective layout is essential for any research lab. Like any important piece of machinery, it needs to be well oiled. Designing your workspace with efficiency in mind is vital for better operations and management. To do this, organise your workspace logically, with related equipment and materials near each other.

Organisation, organisation, organisation

A cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, a cluttered laboratory is a sign of an inefficient, unproductive workspace. It’s crucial to keep your lab organised. Keep frequently used items in a location that is easily accessible and orderly.

Invest in quality equipment

High-quality equipment can make all the difference in lab efficiency — returning better results, running higher volumes, and reducing wasted time due to technical problems.

In many fields, automation is a sure-fire way to increase productivity, consistency and efficiency – whilst also making tasks less strenuous, overcoming skilled worker shortages and increasing demands for services.

Automation is everybody’s friend

The addition of automation software and machinery to your operations results in higher throughput, as well as better time and resource management.

Lab automation simplifies workflows to achieve greater efficiency by integrating advanced robotics and software with your existing laboratory processes.

Astech can perform the systems integration of commercially available laboratory instruments and devices for common laboratory processes through the use of our proprietary workflow scheduler, LabExpert® and our advanced system control software Relovex®. Integration may also include custom robotics and automation to handle labware and consumables.

Automation can help you streamline your data entry, results reporting, specimen preparation, and other pre- and post-analytic tasks. Investing in automation can allow you to focus more on higher-priority and specialised assignments.

By considering automation, when applied to an efficient operation, it will justifiably magnify the overall efficiency of your laboratory.