For scientists, purchasing new equipment represents an exciting opportunity to enhance research capabilities. Manufacturers design state-of-the-art instruments with improved software and automation features to meet evolving scientific demands and growing throughput needs. These advancements promise greater efficiency, precision, and scalability in the lab—making new tools a valuable asset when aligned with organizational goals.
By attending conferences, reading technical literature, participating in webinars, and networking, your team will build an equipment wish list. As lab manager, your job is to provide a framework for them to use as they vet and justify additions to your organization’s capital plan.
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Justifying the investment
A capital plan provides a structured approach to coordinating individual purchases in support of the organization’s broader goals. The timing of purchases and their yearly depreciation costs are planned to make the most of the overall capital budget. Having a clear process to identify, acquire, and implement new purchases is important in helping you manage your budget while still allowing for planned and unplanned purchases alike.
Instrument failure, expanding research initiatives, regulatory directives, and vendor capability improvements can spark the need for a new capital expenditure. Justification for any lab equipment purchase requires gathering data to support the decision-making process. For example, will it be basic equipment replacement or a specialized capability that is new to your organization? Justification for replacing or upgrading existing equipment is usually straight forward and can be based on existing utilization data. For new-to-you capabilities, however, estimates for operating cost, expected utilization, and staffing levels will be needed to clearly evaluate the purchase’s payback period, or the length of time to recover the initial cost based on cash flow.
With information on internally-driven needs in hand, the following steps can be used to evaluate suppliers and make decisions on appropriate options:
Obtain quotes
With an initial needs list in hand, solicit informational quotes or estimates from relevant vendors. Share the non-confidential technical details of your purchase (capability, capacity, on-stream target) to help your vendor provide the best options for consideration. Initial quotes often include a laundry list of accessories or supplies you might consider. In most cases, salespeople expect an iterative process, so don’t hesitate to request quote adjustments based on learnings during the vetting process.
Work with multiple vendors to enable your procurement partner to negotiate using competitive pricing information. Ensure you stipulate any special vendor justification considerations (sometimes referred to as single source exemption) with your procurement partner. Sometimes a new-to-you supplier will provide favorable pricing to get a foothold in your operation. Although important to consider, the hurdle for operator training or integration with other instrumentation and processes might be unacceptably high. Ensure your purchasing liaison understands these nuances. In addition to capabilities, don’t overlook delivery and installation timelines as they need to flange with your internal needs.
Supplier service level
Assess vendor repair and technical consultation options. Although not part of the initial capital investment, picking a vendor with a poor support track record in your region or limited technical resources for consulting can result in unacceptable downtime and sub-optimal utilization of your new investment. You will need to factor in the level of experience and expertise within your own team as well. Their ability to troubleshoot and perform basic repairs or component swap-outs can be an important factor in determining the service level that will work for you.
Demonstration of capability
Following the initial quoting process, evaluate the top one or two vendors during in-person demonstrations. Minimize the risk of unexpected issues by letting your scientists test the system firsthand for ease of use and compatibility with your workflows. Most published vendor data is on ideal systems and conditions, so a demo on a chemically relevant system will further ensure the investment will perform as advertised. If you are simply replacing a known capability with an updated version, a demo might be less critical.
Input from existing customers
Obtain a current users list from your vendors. Gathering their perspective can be very insightful, especially if you have no track record with the capability or vendor yourself. Discuss ease of use, installation process, post-delivery support (applications and service) and cost-in-use. If you have a track record with the vendor, this might not be necessary; however, newly re-engineered capabilities are worth benchmarking with others.
Cost-in-use
When integrating new equipment into your laboratory workflow, look at feeder processes and output integration requirements. Additional sample prep stations, controlled environment workspace, software licenses, and waste stream management are examples that will impact operating costs. If left unaddressed, these factors can create new bottlenecks and lead to underused capabilities.
Facility readiness
Modifications to ventilation, lab layout, water, gases, and electrical supply might be needed prior to instrument installation. Factor in both the cost and modification timeline to understand the on-stream date impact.
Maintain communication
New learnings throughout the process will encourage you to revisit assumptions. Continue to refine internal need parameters, budgetary constraints, and timelines for delivery/facility modifications. At every phase, lab managers are responsible for ensuring key stakeholder discussions take place. Engage customers, management, facilities, and procurement to avoid hitting an unforeseen barrier.
Considering outsourcing
As you dig deeper, challenges may arise that make the investment unacceptably risky. For example, significant barriers to success can come from high technical challenges, unacceptably long delivery timeframes, or budgetary limitations. An alternative to consider is partnering with a trusted contract research organization (CRO).
Outsourcing can serve many purposes beyond acting as a stop-gap. It can give you data to build your internal justification and provide a learning opportunity for your team as they work with skilled practitioners at the CRO. Outsourcing also enables you to pay just for what you need, in the event your internal project demand drivers are more fluid.
Ultimately, making a smart investment decision is the goal. Acquisitions that address organizational needs within clear budget guidelines and timelines are marks of success. Using a straight-forward process to collect and evaluate inputs internally and externally is a valuable development opportunity for your team. This gives them insight into the business of running a laboratory and can help you identify your next generation of leaders.
