Getting By with LessStaff shortages force managers to streamline laboratory processes.by Erin P. T. Canning
John Sadowski
Director, Enabling Technologies Center, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | In the last two years, Colorado Springs Utilities has experienced almost a 40-percent turnover in staff due to retirements and employees deciding to go back to school, says M. Don Scherer, supervisor of the Laboratory Services Section. And finding qualified people to fill those positions remains a challenge. Scherer is not alone.
Many laboratory managers find themselves working with reduced staff, forcing them to consider new ways to streamline laboratory processes. For some, the solution lies in improving a specific process or adopting an established improvement methodology.
Speeding Up the ProcessDavid Struve, director of the Water Quality Analysis Division of the South Florida Water Management District, has employed a number of innovative techniques, such as using color-coded sample labels, in order to complete a myriad of analyses with minimal staff.
Multiple sample bottles containing fractions of a single sample are preserved differently in the field for different tests in the lab, says Struve. If a sample needs to be tested for both total phosphorus and total lead, two bottles are collected. "One is preserved in the field with sulfuric acid and the other with nitric acid," explains Struve.
A bar across each label differentiates the bottles easily from one another. For example, a blue label tells samplers that bottle needs nitric acid preservation. This not only eliminates the need to pick up every bottle and read its label but also avoids the possibility of adding the wrong preservation, which can be disastrous.
For lab personnel, colored labels speed up the process of separating the sample bottles for various tests. Once separated by color, they are stored together on color-matching plastic trays in the lab's walk-in refrigerator. Adding an extra level of efficiency, the trays also list the first and last sample number. "It's like checking out a series of periodicals stored in a given stack in the library," says Struve.
Struve also utilizes a custom program he and his associates developed, called OLECAS (online environmental chemist analysis system) to check sample results automatically and quickly against historical data from a given sampling location.
M. Don Scherer
Supervisor, Laboratory Services Section, Colorado Springs Utilities | "This program runs each night and checks any tests completed that day," Struve explains. In the morning, analysts receive an E-mail identifying results that are considered statistical outliers, prompting them to make sure the reported results are correct. "If necessary, the samples can be quickly reworked to verify the original result before the samples are out of holding time."
Continuously Improving John Sadowski and his associates at Air Products have taken a different approach to streamlining their lab. The continuous improvement (CI) tools of Lean Six Sigma have been "valuable assets in helping us continually streamline our work processes and organization." As defined on Wikipedia, the Lean Six Sigma business improvement methodology is a combination of Lean Manufacturing's focus on speed and Six Sigma's focus on quality for the goal of better quality faster.
"Lean workplace organization and visual control, mapping, and flow processes have been useful in reducing wasted steps, optimizing lab space, and reducing inventory of disposables," states Sadowski, director of Air Products' Enabling Technologies Center.
Colorado Springs Utilities also began using CI techniques and tools, such as Six Sigma's Memory Jogger guidebook. Employing these at the bench level has helped identify cost savings and analytical efficiencies. As a result, the lab now uses micro distillation equipment for cyanide analysis and micro digestion for metals. "[This] has reduced the time necessary for equipment set up and sample preparation," adds Scherer.
The company, however, didn't stop there. Implementing CI tools is only one of three strategies that Colorado Springs Utilities developed as part of a plan to streamline lab processes.
The lab accelerated data transfer by increasing laboratory instruments and LIMS connectivity, thus enabling the quick transfer of bench data for QC checks, final reviews and data authorization.
David Struve
Director, Water Quality Analysis Division, Environmental Resource Assessment Department, South Florida Water Management District | Finally, they accelerated the QC review process by maximizing other technology, such as their quality analyst statistical software, which now performs charting and historical trending. "This also helps identify technique problems among staff in the general chemistry area," says Scherer.
In addition, they are currently attempting to streamline their Demonstration of Capability (DOC), which the lab follows as part of its Quality Assurance program. "Being short staffed occasionally requires someone to work in a new area quickly," explains Scherer. "As a result, we need documentation demonstrating that person can perform a new analytical assignment. We hope to find tools that may help accelerate the instructional process and aid in overall performance monitoring."
Conclusion Whether a lab develops a specific plan or tackles one process at a time, laboratory processes always have room for improvement. "Streamlining work processes is no longer something an analytical lab should want to do," states Sadowski. "It's something it must do to remain a cost-effective and impact-creating part of an R&D effort."
But in the end, "the key to successful productivity improvement is constantly asking clients what they want and when and how they need it," reminds Sadowski. "Equally important is the openness to change in both the analytical department and the client organizations."
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