Laboratory Automation
Laboratory automation is a multi-disciplinary strategy to research, develop, optimize and capitalize on technologies in the laboratory that enable new and improved processes. Laboratory automation professionals are academic, commercial and government researchers, scientists and engineers who conduct research and develop new technologies to increase productivity, elevate experimental data quality, reduce lab process cycle times, or enable experimentation that otherwise would be impossible.
The most widely known application of automation technology is laboratory robotics. More generally, the field of automation comprises many different automated laboratory instruments, devices, software algorithms, and methodologies used to enable, expedite and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of scientific research in laboratories.
Automation can be implemented throughout a lab. Starting in the mid-1990s, several commercial laboratory companies and a handful of hospital laboratories took the plunge and installed total laboratory automation (TLA) systems in their high volume core laboratories.
Today, hundreds of clinical pathology laboratories in the United States have turned to laboratory automation as one approach to improving quality, reducing turnaround times for lab test results, to save money, and to improve staff productivity. Interest among clinical laboratories in automation is at an all-time high.
The cost of such TLA systems, however, often leads labs to opt instead for modular automation, which generally consists of consolidated analyzers, integrated analyzers, modular workcells, and pre- and post-analytical automation.
Another automation option is an island of automation, in which a single robotic system or other automatically operating machine functions independently of any other machine or process. Islands of automation offer the lab more flexibility in designing the workflow, and can also perform labor-intensive or hazardous tasks.
The application of technology in today’s laboratories is required to achieve timely progress and remain competitive. Laboratories devoted to activities such as high-throughput screening, combinatorial chemistry, automated clinical and analytical testing, diagnostics, large scale biorepositories, and many others would not exist without advancements in laboratory automation.
Many clinical laboratories are implementing automation solutions as a substitute for manual labor, due to the largest workforce shortage in the history of the medical laboratory industry. Appropriate use of integrated workstations, automated analyzers, and TLA systems all make it possible to re-assign the lab’s most skilled staff members to responsibilities that contribute much higher value.
The development of laboratory automation systems (LAS) would not be possible without sophisticated laboratory information systems (LIS).
Univ. of Tokyo Hospital Lab Has Plenty of Automation
CEO SUMMARY: In Japan, many clinical laboratories are in their third decade of using automation. At the University of Tokyo Hospital, total laboratory automation (TLA) was first implemented in 1991. Now on its fourth generation TLA system, this laboratory was worked upstream to automate s…
Lab Automation Advocates Gather in Kobe, Japan
CEO SUMMARY: Everything relating to automation in clinical laboratory operations was the theme of the sixth “International Conference of Laboratory Automation and Robotics,” conducted last month in Kobe, Japan. Because laboratories in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have two and three decade…
Lab Automation Viewed As Essential Solution
CEO SUMMARY: A merger of three hospitals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, forced PinnacleHealth’s lab director to find new ways to increase efficiency. A lab automation project helped improve turnaround time and staff productivity and cut costs. The cost savings is about 50 cents per test, …
Conference Speeches Offer Useful Insights
CEO SUMMARY: There is an interesting dichotomy between Asia and North America. The same problems and challenges exist in both regions—declining reimbursement and budgets, labor force issues, and the need to spend more for new diagnostic technology. Yet laboratories in both regions see a…
Seoul, Korea Hosts Lab Automation Meeting
CEO SUMMARY: It was the fifth “International Conference on Laboratory Automation and Robotics.” Over the past decade, this meeting, started by the pioneers of clinical laboratory automation, has been the major forum to meet and discuss advances in all aspects of automation. This confe…
Beckman Loses Auction To Buy Lab-InterLink
CEO SUMMARY: For laboratories with automation equipment from Lab-InterLink, the sale of the troubled company to Cardinal Health is good news. At the same time, interesting questions are triggered by this development. What plans does Cardinal Health have for the laboratory testing marketpl…
LAB-Interlink Hangs On Despite Financial Woes
CEO SUMMARY: It’s an uphill struggle at LAB-Interlink, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Short of funds, staffed with only a few employees, and urgently seeking capital, the company has so far managed to avoid filing for protection under bankruptcy laws. It is an unwelcome turn of events, since…
LAB-Interlink Clients Experience Highs & Lows
CEO SUMMARY: It was right before Thanksgiving weekend when LAB-Interlink laid off most of its staff and was left with a skeleton crew. Since that date, at least one major laboratory customer was unable to get needed service and parts, causing a total shutdown of its automated line. Howeve…
Royal Free Hospital Is First Big British Lab Automation Project
CEO SUMMARY: To date, only a handful of total laboratory automation (TLA) projects have been implemented in Great Britain. One of those first TLA projects is at the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, located in the northern suburbs of London. Design work started in 1998 and the first phase b…
Lab Automation Subject Of “How To” Program
CEO SUMMARY: Mastering lab automation is more difficult than it appears. The first-ever “Lab Automation Boot Camp” is assembling experienced lab administrators who have experience (and scars) in automation and are committed to telling the real story about making automation successful….
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 5 – April 8, 2024
The fragmentation of consumer markets is reflected in clinical lab services, and The Dark Report examines this trend and how it will impact labs in the coming years. Also, The Dark Report notes that the FDA has issued a controversial memo to reclassify many high-risk IVD assays.
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