Business Planning

Pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, research organizations, universities, and government agencies are continuously under pressure to cut costs due to a generalized economic downturn. This pressure has moved the procurement process to the forefront, with managers looking to achieve better business performance through more effective management of categories, suppliers, and teams.1

The total volume of research at the University of Michigan was $1.31 billion in the fiscal year that closed June 30, 2014, just below the record high of $1.33 billion from the previous year.

Problem: A variety of factors can result in obsolete laboratory equipment and R&D devices. Project
completion, equipment upgrade, lab closure, and downsizing all create surplus pharmaceutical assets
no longer required in the same capacity—or at all. Given budget restrictions and the importance placed
on environmentally-sound business practices, organizations can’t afford to allow surplus assets to lie
idle or dispose of them without thought to the process. Surplus requires an innovative and sustainable
process that supports strategic business goals.

When looking at best practices for running a lab, things as seemingly diverse as staff development and retention, inventory management, procurement, and efficient use of training spends, need to be looked at together. After all, equipment is only as good as the staff who uses it and your staff is only as good as their training.

The flow of federal research funding to Brown University is only now starting to recover from the 2013 federal sequestration. As a result of the sequester, the total pool of research funds at the University decreased by 13.7 percent between 2013 and 2014, said Vice President for Research David Savitz, but funding for new research proposals in the first half of fiscal year 2015 is up significantly — about 30 percent — from 2014.

The folks from M2 Scientifics share some tips, in no particular order, for maximizing your lab's budget.

Good news for laboratory supervisors–their position has made CNN Money’s top 10 list of quickest-growing jobs in America, released Jan. 27.

The University of Wisonsin-Madison said in a statement that the lab was not closed due to animal rights activists.











