Factors To Consider While Making Decisions about Laboratory Services |
Posted: November 18, 2020 |
When you run a lab, you need to carry out many things, and at times, things can get out of your control. Many labs do not have people with all the expertise to execute all tasks independently, and for such labs, the best thing to do is outsource the work that the in-house employees cannot do. Some of the services that labs can outsource are calibration, accreditation, lab monitoring, and training. But before a lab manager decides what services he needs to outsource, it will help if he considers a few factors, such as:
Lab managers should analyze answers to these questions, and the analysis will provide the framework for considering outsourcing of tasks, from servicing a laboratory refrigerator to sophisticated tasks. Let us see what tasks lab managers can outsource: Specific ServicesTo hire a vendor to deliver specific services, lab managers have to find vendors that fulfill the following four conditions:
It will also help if lab managers select vendors for outsourcing tasks based on the value they provide rather than the cost. It will elicit quality services from them that will benefit the lab. Instrument Service ContractsMany labs outsource instrument servicing to external vendors. Full-service contracts are an expensive affair, but labs cannot function without instruments working correctly. Due to fund constraints, all labs may not afford to bring every instrument under service contract coverage. A lab manager can prioritize the instruments that are mission-critical for covering under external instrument service contracts. He should make some efforts to find out the right vendor that ensures good instrument uptime. If a manager has some flexibility, he can also consider a matrix involving contract cost, do it yourself (DIY), and time available to DIY. Again, it will be wrong to assume that the DIY approach will be free. It calls for internal resources and money outgo for repairs and maintenance. Once the lab manager decides what instruments will be covered under the service outsourcing contract, he can find the right vendor. Usually, there are three types of external vendors-- OEM vendors, independent vendors, and total coverage vendors. And the manager can take into account the vendor's quality and the cost to finalize the party to outsource. CalibrationMost lab managers prefer outsourcing the calibration of lab equipment. Usually, the work involves calibration of pipettes, balances, relief valves, thermometers, etc. Although some labs have people who can complete these tasks internally, the work is tedious and time-consuming. Hence, it makes sense to outsource such work. Some instruments, such as mass spectrometers and spectroscopy units, call for higher expertise than mostly found in the internal people. Lab managers should look for external vendors that are experts in thoroughly understanding the calibrations' timing and frequency as mandated by the lab's quality management system. ConclusionLab managers often find it challenging to decide the work that needs to be outsourced to external vendors. And there are merits in outsourcing, like cost-effectiveness and promptness. But managers should not fall behind in doing the due diligence of determining the lab's needs and the corresponding expertise of the vendors before outsourcing.
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