Key Tips for Improving Lab Productivity

Key Tips for Improving Lab Productivity

LIMS lab software is in high demand, and all for good reasons. LIMS allows the lab to automate the complex process, saving time & money. 

Nowadays, labs are under immense pressure to handle more samples, provide accurate findings, and follow more stringent quality control & regulatory compliance standards. To fulfill demand and expand your lab operations, you may be wondering how to increase productivity in your lab. 

You can expand the lab area, and add extra instruments, supplies, or storage space. However, the outcomes aren’t always what you were hoping for, particularly if the required processes and practices aren’t in place. 

Here are some tips that may help you increase the productivity of your lab. 

Opt for Lims Lab Software

As your operations and data volumes grow, your spreadsheets or older systems might not be able to accommodate your changing demands. Instead, they add workload in your lab.

A consolidated, centralized system like LIMS ensures that your data is accessible while still being safe and assists in minimizing data duplication.

Additionally, standardization and the decline of transcribing mistakes, which are frequently a result of employing paper-based solutions, will improve the quality of your data. Laboratory information management systems (LIMS), which are specifically designed for managing samples, provide features for handling data, workflows, compliance, and security.

Understanding your lab’s operations and your primary aims and objectives is necessary before looking at LIMS lab software.

Streamline Your Laboratory Process

If your procedures are inefficient, even the LIMS system laboratory cannot fix your problems. Digitalizing inefficient operations might save some paperwork, but it won’t always increase productivity.

Start by examining the workflows in your lab. You could find some unexpected outcomes by analyzing your current procedures, and it must be what you do, not what you imagine you do. You could even find that you can make some rapid enhancements to your current operations.

Similarly, you can find certain processes that lack a systematic strategy or official procedures, leading to delays. 

But don’t overdo it and make a protocol for everything, as this might have the reverse impact. It may even excessively complicate and slow down your procedures.

After defining your procedures, you must ensure that everyone follows them. Here, you can employ the LIMS lab system to support your lab activities. Examining your procedures regularly can help you ensure that they support you as your lab changes. 

Automation is the Key

Every industry involves some level of repetition. The same applies to labs. Examine what you can automate when you analyze your lab procedures. It’s possible that alerts must always be issued when a specific action is taken or that certain occurrences must always be audited.

Automation of every process is neither possible nor advisable. Finding time-consuming, essential lab tasks that may be automated can help decrease administrative time and significantly increase productivity.

Repetitive processes can be automated using software tools like LIMS.

Data visualization

Is your lab effective enough? If yes, how do you know? 

Do you know where to look in the lab to increase productivity?

Keeping track of this may be difficult when using spreadsheets without an audit trail. You may have to monitor everyone at work, which is not feasible. 

Here comes the role of LIMS lab software. It will help you evaluate and keep track of your data. A LIMS analyzes events and actions in addition to date- and time-stamping workflows, allowing you to determine how long a process took from beginning to end. You can use analytics and data visualizations to ascertain how long an activity typically takes to complete. You may also keep track of how long certain phases in a procedure take.

Analytics improves your ability to quickly know what’s happening throughout the lab, assisting you in locating bottlenecks, non-compliance, training, and quality problems as well as showcasing what’s effective so you can repeat it.

Final Thoughts

It takes continuous effort on multiple fronts to improve the productivity of the lab. As you know, customer needs are rising, and regulatory compliance is changing. So, you need to expand the capability of your lab.  

Understanding your existing situation and how your lab really runs are the primary stages in determining what adjustments will have the most impact and be feasible. 

For any changes to be successfully implemented, there must be clear communication with individuals working in the lab. Finally, frequent change monitoring will ensure that you have quantifiable proof of the modifications’ effects.

Moreover, if you’re looking for advanced LIMS lab software or have doubts about LIMS, contact Labscion.