This Month's Lab Relief Solutions
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Grading the Labs We Visit and Why Best Practices Matter!
In our last newsletter, I discussed how we "grade" the laboratories that we visit. Some of this grading is just our informal way of comparing different laboratories, but these grading categories are important issues that the laboratories should be considering. All of these categories represent what we call "Best Practices," which means the laboratory is operating "the right way."
Why do best practices matter? The answers are familiar:
Results, Time, and Money!
So, let's review the grading categories and talk about how
not using Best Practices is costing your laboratory.
- The lab should be clean...
- Results: contamination might create errors in your results
- Time: re-work is never a good thing
- Money: shorter column lifetimes and re-work mean larger expenses and smaller revenue
- Equipment that is reasonably modern and well maintained...
- Results: better accuracy and precision usually result from newer equipment and technology
- Time: newer equipment is more efficient and can be operated in ways that reduce analysis time
- Money: faster turnaround and fewer problems are always a good thing. The ROI for purchasing newer equipment is almost always a large positive number.
- Effective written laboratory procedures...
- Results: fully evaluated methods rarely have problems, because these problems are corrected before the method is put into use
- Time: is your time spent generating results, or filling out unnecessary paperwork? Time is money. Yes, there are documentation requirements, but do what is required, and no more.
- Money: time is money. Procedures should maximize time spent on results, and minimize time spent on documentation.
- Staff who are motivated and capable...
- Results: poorly trained staff make mistakes. Mistakes cost time and money.
- Time: Mistakes mean re-work or lost work.
- Money: Re-work and lost work mean more expenses and less revenue. The ROI for training is always positive, as we have discussed in the past.
- Using instruments and software effectively...
- Results: Most labs are deficient in how they use their hardware and software. Fortunately, you can still get good results, but it costs laboratories many thousands of $ because of the inefficiencies.
- Time: I helped one lab improve their automated reporting procedures. They estimated that the new procedure would save them three hours for each data set.
- Money: Saving three hours for each data set is a lot of time saved over a year, and with that, a great savings for the organization. The ROI for instrument and software improvements is usually a very large number.
- Attitude...
- Results: Staff with good attitudes generally make fewer mistakes and work faster because they care about the quality of their work. Fewer mistakes mean...
- Time: more time available for other activities, and ...
- Money: fewer expenses.
... and all of these things mean less stress for the laboratory staff and management.
How is your lab doing on these criteria? What grade would you give your own lab for each item, and overall? If you would like to discuss more details for all the claims we make here, just write back.
If you are doing HPLC, you can get an idea of how the "good" labs operate their instruments. We have collected our experiences and advice from 30 years of lab visits into a webinar entitled "Best Practices in HPLC" We are offering this presentation twice in September. See details below.
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Webinar Training
Best Practices in HPLC
Monday, Sep. 23, 2013 (2 PM ET)
Friday, Sep. 27, 2013 (11 AM ET)
Does your lab do HPLC the right way? You will learn how the good labs operate during this presentation.
Understanding the Calibration Curve
Friday, Sep. 27, 2013 2 PM ET
Did you know that the correlation coefficient is not always a good indication of calibration quality? Attend this webinar to learn this and other important facts about your calibrated methods.
Agilent Software/Hardware Training
Is your Agilent equipment not being utilized to its full capabilities? We have more than a decade of experience training users to fully understand and use the software and hardware. These highly rated events are sponsored by Agilent at their North American Training Center in Atlanta, GA, and feature lectures with a hands-on laboratory.
Infinity HPLC Maintenance and Troubleshooting
December 17 - 18, 2013 (seats available)
Learn how to maintain your 1220, 1260, and 1290 instruments.
HPLC OpenLab ChemStation Operation
October 15 - 18, 2013 (seats available)
January 14 - 17, 2014 (seats available)
Learn all the features of this new software program.
Introduction to HPLC and the HPLC ChemStation
October 8 - 11, 2013 (seats available)
This course provides complete operations training for ChemStation B.04.03. Everyone learns something new.
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Quote of the Day
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"Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different."
– Albert Szent-Györgyi von Nagyrapolt, Nobel Prize winner
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Regards,
Merlin K. L. Bicking, Ph.D.
President, ACCTA, Inc.
651-731-3670 |
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IN THIS ISSUE
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| Why Best Practices Matter! |
| Upcoming Training Events |
| Quote of the Day |
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| SPECIAL OFFERS |
| Our newsletters frequently discuss ROI issues for laboratory improvements. If you would like more information, or would like a free analysis, please contact us. |
| PRIVATE WEBINARS |
We know it can be difficult to adjust your activities to our webinar schedule. We can now offer any of our webinars for private presentation at a time that is convenient for your laboratory. Write to us for more information.
The following topics are also available for private presentation:
- Secrets of the ChemStation (Parts 1, 2, and 3)
- Reducing Integration Errors in Chromatography (Parts 1 and 2)
- Understanding the Calibration Curve
- Practical Laboratory Statistics
- HPLC Basics for Quality Staff and Auditors
- Best Practices in HPLC Column Selection
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