An analysis by Lab Manager of exhibit hall vendors at the 2026 meeting of the Association of Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) showed that medical lab customer and manufacturer needs tilt towards routine products, even in big-money technologies.
That reality should prompt clinical lab managers to think carefully about behind-the-scenes components as they evaluate major diagnostic platforms.
ADLM 2026 drew just under 17,000 people to the event, which took place in July in Anaheim, CA. Conference organizers listed 721 vendor booths at the show, although some vendors had multiple booths. Lab Manager examined the vendor list and the three biggest product areas by percentage of vendors were the following:
- Original equipment manufacturer components (23 percent)
- Reagents and other raw materials (21 percent)
- In vitro diagnostics (IVD) platforms (18 percent)
Of those top three categories, only one—IVD platforms—would likely be viewed by clinical lab managers as on the vanguard of medical laboratory science.
“I’m not surprised at this list at all,” said consultant Robert Lacroix, who owns LTC LLC Healthcare, Diagnostics & Life Science. Earlier in his career, Lacroix worked in the medical lab tubing field for Diba Industries (now part of parent company Arcmed). “Reagents are feeding every diagnostic system.”
Product / Service Category | Share | Primary Focus and Key Exhibitors |
Original equipment manufacturer components, fluidics, hardware, and sub-automation | 23 percent | Valves, pumps, microfluidic channels, and robotic sub-assemblies for instrument builders (e.g., Hamilton, Tecan, SMC, Parker Hannifin, SCHOTT MINIFAB) |
Reagents, biomarkers, conjugates, and raw materials | 21 percent | Upstream enzymes, antibodies, magnetic beads, and bulk reagents for assay developers and lab developed test (LDT) creators (e.g., Bio-Techne, Medix Biochemica, HyTest, New England Biolabs) |
Core IVD platforms and high-throughput systems | 18 percent | Central lab automation, consolidated immunoassay, and chemistry analyzers (e.g., Roche, Abbott, Siemens Healthineers, bioMérieux, Sysmex, QuidelOrtho) |
Molecular diagnostics, genomics, and next generation sequencing | 13 percent | Multiplex PCR, syndromic panels, targeted sequencing, and target enrichment tools (e.g., Qiagen, Illumina, Seegene, Hologic, SOPHiA GENETICS) |
Point-of-care, decentralized, and rapid testing | 11 percent | Near-patient lateral flow readers, benchtop microfluidic devices, and urgent care diagnostics (e.g., EKF Diagnostics, Boditech, Fluxergy, PixCell Medical) |
Lab consumables, plastics, and specimen handling | 8 percent | Pipette tips, microplates, transport media, swabs, and collection tubes (e.g., Copan, Greiner Bio-One, Globe Scientific, Puritan Medical) |
Informatics, laboratory information systems, middleware, and AI software | 4 percent | Auto-verification middleware, digital hematology AI, revenue cycle, and lab software (e.g., Clinisys, Data Innovations, LigoLab, Scopio Labs, Techcyte) |
Lab services, accreditation, logistics, and consulting | 2 percent | Cold-chain specimen logistics, regulatory/LDT compliance consulting, and accreditation (e.g., BioTouch, MedSpeed, CAP, COLA, MDC Associates) |
This chart breaks down the product categories at the ADLM 2026 conference by share of vendors in the exhibit hall and the primary focus on the products. Sources: Lab Manager analysis of ADLM 2026 vendor list.
Innovation with clinical lab components
To be clear, routine components of medical lab equipment do undergo innovations, some of which were highlighted in the massive ADLM 2026 exhibit hall.
One booth Lab Manager visited was hosted by KNF Neuberger, which was promoting its intelligent diaphragm pumps. These pumps use sensors to respond to liquid flows, waste handling, or leaks, said Dave Howard, US group product manager at KNF. The benefit is that human users don’t need to understand the operations of a brushless DC motor housed in the pump.
Seeing pumps and other components at the top of the ADLM vendor list intrigued Howard because the core attendees of the conference are not always the buyers of this equipment.
“I’m surprised components are number one on the list,” Howard said. “Most of our customers are other exhibitors.”
Bruce Carlson, who publishes the Eye on IVD newsletter, noted that ADLM has long had a strong manufacturing aspect to its exhibit hall.
Interested in life sciences?
“Innovation comes from the people that make the parts that make the test system,” Carlson noted in his July 29 issue. “For instance, every mass spectrometer depends on a diaphragm pump that creates the clean, stable vacuum that allows the instrument's high-speed turbomolecular pump to do its job. Without that first step, the mass spectrometer cannot reach ultra-low pressures needed to separate and measure.”
What upstream dominance means for downstream lab buyers
For a clinical lab manager, the high concentration of component manufacturers at ADLM 2026 offered a direction for evaluating diagnostic systems.
When assessing big-money IVD instruments or molecular platforms, lab managers often focus on assay menus, turnaround times, and upfront cost per test. However, looking at backbone components, such as diaphragm pumps, reveals useful information about long-term total cost of ownership.
Here are two key ways lab leaders can leverage an understanding of upstream supply chains to make smarter technology decisions:
- Ask about component engineering during vendor demos. Every high-throughput mass spectrometer or chemistry analyzer relies heavily on pumps, precise valves, and robotic assemblies from other vendors. Self-monitoring components give a laboratory better preventive maintenance warnings before a failure halts sample processing.
- Verify supply chain resilience and field service speed. Because instrument manufacturers rely heavily on third-party suppliers, an analyzer’s uptime is tied to supply chain stability when it comes to replacement parts. A useful question to ask a vendor: Can a field technician swap out a failed assembly in 30 minutes, or does it require a day-long service visit?
The ADLM 2026 exhibit floor was proof that a new platform is only as reliable as the pumps, valves, and reagents driving it inside. Knowing that arrangement can help clinical lab managers make smarter purchasing decisions.
