If standardization is such a key element to integration and the industry has been so interested in it for so long, one might ask, “Why don’t we have these standards in place?” Answer: “Because it’s really, really hard!”

Kansas-based CRO XenoTech needed to minimize the time it took to validate its automated liquid handlers. With the help of Artel’s multichannel verification system, they were able to reduce the time it took to accurately verify each robot from four hours to 15 minutes.

Our third annual confidence survey reveals that survey participants—ranging from technicians to corporate management—believe their research organizations will be just slightly better off financially than they were a year ago and that business conditions in their market sectors will somewhat improve to support or attract significant research investments.

By using metrics effectively, laboratory managers can better focus their R&D efforts and be more effective in improving their firms' sales and profitability. This is essential, now more than ever, given the slow recovery from the "Great Recession."

Laboratory benchmarking entails comparing the quality of one lab to measures taken from a range of other laboratories, or from the standard bearers. Its the details involved in the benchmarking process, however, that can be maddening.