LII:Laboratory Technology Planning and Management: The Practice of Laboratory Systems Engineering

Title: Laboratory Technology Planning and Management & The Practice of Laboratory Systems Engineering

Author for citation: Joe Liscouski

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Publication date: December 2020

Introduction

What separates successful advanced laboratories from all the others? It's largely their ability to meet their goals, with the effective use of resources: people, time, money, equipment, data, and information. The fundamental goals of laboratory work haven’t changed, but they are under increased pressure to do more and do it faster, with a better return on investment (ROI). Laboratory managers have turned to electronic technologies (e.g., computers, networks, robotics, microprocessors, database systems, etc.) to meet those demands. However, without effective planning, technology management, and education, those technologies will only get labs part of the way to meeting their needs. We need to learn how to close the gap between getting part-way there and getting where we need to be. The practice of science has changed; we need to meet that change to be successful.

This document was written to get people thinking more seriously about the technologies used in laboratory work and how those technologies contribute to meeting the challenges labs are facing. There are three primary concerns:

1. The need for planning and management: When digital components began to be added to lab systems, it was a slow incremental process: integrators and microprocessors grew in capability as the marketplace accepted them. That development gave us the equipment we have now, equipment that can be used in isolation or in a networked, integrated system. In either case, they need attention in their application and management to protect electronic laboratory data, ensure that it can be effectively used, and ensure that the systems and products put in place are both the right ones, and that they fully contribute to improvements in lab operations.
2. The need for more laboratory systems engineers (LSEs): There is increasing demand for people who have the education and skills needed to accomplish the points above and provide research and testing groups with the support they need.
3. The need to collaborate with vendors: In order to develop the best products needed for laboratory work, vendors should be provided more user input. Too often vendors have an idea for a product or modifications to existing products, yet they lack a fully qualified audience to bounce ideas off of. With the planning in the first concern in place, we should be able to approach vendors and say, with confidence, "this is what is needed" and explain why.

If the audience for this work were product manufacturing or production facilities, everything that was being said would have been history. The efficiency and productivity of production operations directly impacts profitability and customer satisfaction; the effort to optimize operations would have been an essential goal. When it comes to laboratory operations, that same level of attention found in production operations must be in place to accelerate laboratory research and testing operations, reducing cost and improving productivity. Aside from a few lab installations in large organizations, this same level of attention isn’t given, as people aren’t educated as to its importance. The purpose of this work is to present ideas of what laboratory technology challenges can be addressed through planning activities using a series of goals.

This material is an expansion upon two presentations:

• "Laboratory Technology Management & Planning," 2nd Annual Lab Asset & Facility Management in Pharma 2019, San Diego, CA, October 22, 2019
• "How Digital Technologies are Changing the Landscape of Lab Operations," Lab Manager webinar, April 2020

About the author

Initially educated as a chemist, author Joe Liscouski (joe dot liscouski at gmail dot com) is an experienced laboratory automation/computing professional with over forty years experience in the field, including the design and development of automation systems (both custom and commercial systems), LIMS, robotics and data interchange standards. He also consults on the use of computing in laboratory work. He has held symposia on validation and presented technical material and short courses on laboratory automation and computing in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He has worked/consulted in pharmaceutical, biotech, polymer, medical, and government laboratories. His current work centers on working with companies to establish planning programs for lab systems, developing effective support groups, and helping people with the application of automation and information technologies in research and quality control environments.