Modern lab work encompasses a huge number of different tasks, activities, and procedures. Every one of those actions requires different equipment and tools to properly complete. Many laboratorians become quite adept at creating their own modifications of standard lab equipment to get the job done easier, better, and faster. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a vendor that focused on delivering high-quality tools and equipment to serve those myriad needs?
Innovating new products
Last month, Lab Manager had the opportunity to visit Marketlab in Caledonia, MI and talk with them about their approach to serving the medical, hospital, clinical, and lab industries. Their approach was refreshing. According to Mark Krhovsky, the chief commercial officer, Marketlab is inspired by “products MacGyvered together by laboratorians.” Their product development process is to walk into labs, listen to the scientists, and find ways to help them deliver high-quality science with ease and speed. For 31 years, Marketlab has been tailoring solutions for every healthcare niche, achieving considerable success along the way. They now offer more than 20,000 products to as many customers, spanning lab furniture to lab convenience to lab safety. Passionate about addressing their customers’ niche needs, they focus on unique, hard-to-find specialty products. Krhovsky emphasizes, “We know the lab and imaging space. We’re solving problems that others aren’t.”
According to Brett Huffman, director of product management and development, their products are “based almost entirely on feedback from the user.” As a result, Marketlab takes a relentless, iterative approach to design and engineering. These practical innovations significantly improve their customers’ productivity in the lab. As Huffman says, the team at Marketlab “solve the little problems that most people don’t think about.”
Credit: Marketlab
Delivering an improved phlebotomy cart
While there are many examples of innovative products designed and built by Marketlab, the modern phlebotomy cart is a good example. By interviewing phlebotomists and closely observing their work, the designers and engineers at Marketlab have brought a significantly improved cart to the workspace that addresses user needs. In most workspaces, phlebotomy carts are constantly moving and may cover miles in a single shift. Marketlab’s Insight phlebotomy cart is equipped with five-inch, medical grade, closed casters that make it easy to roll around the facility. The casters are quiet, smooth, and effective. To make the cart easy to push, it has an extended, angled handle to improve the ergonomics of pushing the cart. The cart is lightweight and easy to maneuver as well. In addition, the cart height is designed to properly serve 80percent of the users.
Even within its small footprint, the high-capacity cart can still carry everything needed for a full and busy shift. The body of the cart contains drawers, shelves, tilt bins, and space for gloves. The drawers will stay closed during movement and have an option to lock them when the user is away from the cart. The top of the cart has a large and durable workspace with a lip to prevent items from rolling off. It also has space for an integrated carry try for the immediate items needed for a blood draw.
The Insight phlebotomy cart is just one example of the attention to detail that Marketlab practices when developing products. Alongside phlebotomy, Marketlab offers a full line of carts tailored for other purposes.
Integrated manufacturing
Marketlab manufactures most of their products in-house in the US. Their manufacturing operation in Michigan is very interesting. The teamwork displayed on the manufacturing floor is impressive. Most staff have been broadly cross-trained, enabling them to readily focus on the highest-priority orders. They have also designed products, such as the family of carts, that are modular with shared elements. This allows them to produce parts in quantity and then rapidly assemble products on demand. In the case of their carts, they decreased the time to deliver carts by a factor of four.
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The leadership displayed on the manufacturing floor was impressive. Marketlab’s manufacturing leader knew every individual by name, bringing a smile to people as she walked through the manufacturing floor. It’s clear that the staff respect her and like working for her. Having an engaged workforce is an enormous multiplier in what the company can accomplish. They are clearly working together to innovate around the manufacturing process and to deliver high-quality products for their customers.
During our tour, we also saw how they are working to improve the sustainability of Marketlab’s products. Much of the manufacturing done in the Michigan site was from plastic stock. All the products were designed using recyclable plastics. They captured all the plastic waste from manufacturing in large bins to be recycled. In addition, they have deals with their suppliers to reuse shipping pallets to reduce waste, and they are actively exploring ways to reduce the plastic used in packaging and shipping their products to customers. This also reduces the plastic waste the lab must deal with on delivery.
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Customer relationships
In addition to solving issues in the lab, Marketlab also wants to help their customer’s organization simplify the procurement process. They have strengths in the diversity of their products and their ability to reduce the complexity of supply management. Customers can build strategic and mutually beneficial relationships to reduce the time and effort spent on procurement.
Stories drive innovation
Huffman adds that each of their products have great stories. They are constantly looking for the issues that plague lab and healthcare workers. They want to listen carefully to the users and bring those stories back to their design and engineering teams. Those stories then become the best vehicle to sell these optimized products into the industry.
If you have a nagging problem in your lab with tools or equipment and your modifications haven’t quite solved the issue, look for the Marketlab salesperson on their next visit. Take a few minutes to show them the issue and describe what you’d like to achieve. They will bring the story back to the designers and engineers. Maybe they’ll come up with an innovative approach to solving the problem.
