Operational challenges in laboratory procurement can significantly hinder scientific progress. Recognizing the need for precise information and effective consulting, Siamak Baharloo, co-founder and CEO of Labviva, emphasizes the importance of leveraging aggregators and robust supply chains. These strategies ensure seamless lab functionality, allowing scientists to focus on research and innovation rather than administrative hurdles.

Can you share some key experiences from your early career that influenced your approach to solving operational challenges in labs?

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A: As a trained scientist, I worked for large manufacturers of life science products, reagents, and equipment. My early impressions were influenced by recognizing the scientific community’s need for information that could help them identify which materials best aligned with their protocols and workflows. 

I quickly realized how much consulting and advising helped my colleagues gain better insights into which products and reagents best helped them execute their research. The question was, how do we help bring that additional content and insight into lab operations so scientists could focus on research and innovation instead of wasting time going through manuals, searching public databases, and calling to consult peers about which products to order.

From a corporate perspective, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries need access to thousands of manufacturers across a diverse spectrum, which can be overwhelming. Building commercial relationships with all those suppliers creates a bottleneck, posing a significant challenge for corporate procurement teams.

That’s when I determined how effective aggregators can be in enhancing these organizations' operational resiliency. While these aggregator organizations bring tremendous value, procurement teams still need to address cost management and would greatly benefit from the ability to compare and shop.

Q: From your perspective, what are the common supply chain issues that can disrupt lab operations?

A: The recent real-world example is the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, organizations faced significant shortages of products across the board, from PPE to daily consumables. It disrupted supply chains, causing backorders for essential items like petri dishes, pipette tips, and gloves. Reliance on quick, just-in-time delivery from a shrinking number of suppliers left companies vulnerable. This highlighted the importance of building redundancy into supply chains, ensuring multiple sourcing options, and having backup plans to maintain operational continuity.

Post-pandemic supply chain challenges are still very top of mind, keeping the spotlight on supply chain concerns today. For instance, labs conducting clinical trials need specific gloves to meet FDA regulations. Without these, they must shut down their clinical trials and operations, incurring massive losses and delays in bringing scientific innovation to market. To avoid such disruptions, procurement teams must focus on building resilient supply chains with multiple suppliers. The pandemic and these subsequent vulnerabilities were a wake-up call, emphasizing the need for robust supply chains and redundancy to avoid future operational and financial setbacks.

Q: How can laboratories streamline their processes to ensure more time is dedicated to research rather than administrative tasks? How can emerging technologies like AI and data analytics play a role?

A: Great question—I think about this every day. There is tension between procurement departments and researchers. Procurement seeks standardization, transparency, and efficient workflows while lab professionals want flexible solutions to advance their research without dealing with cumbersome procurement systems. Despite some value in spend management, these systems often lack user-friendly interfaces, making procurement a chore.

One of our large pharmaceutical company customers found that lab scientists spend eight hours a week on procurement, which is a significant burden. This reduces highly skilled personnel to performing procurement tasks, which is incredibly inefficient. Simplifying this process is critical for enabling scientists to find relevant products quickly while complying with procurement requirements.

AI can help harmonize product attributes, part numbers, and create context for how products are used by other scientists. When a user enters a product request, an AI-enabled system can instantly search catalogs and recommend matching items, transforming manual searching and ordering into a simple click and significantly reducing time and cost. 

Inventory management is another area where AI can optimize processes. By analyzing previous usage behavior, market availability, and supplier fulfillment times, AI can recommend the best time to reorder, maintaining continuous operations without overstocking while ensuring a smoother and more efficient experience for everyone.

Q: What are the common supply chain issues that can disrupt lab operations, and how can they be mitigated?

A: Mitigating supply chain risks requires greater visibility and transparency. Monitoring your inventory is not enough; you must also understand your suppliers' inventories and dependencies. The deeper you go into the supply chain—tracking shipments, precursors, and components needed for your products—the better, and I see more and more labs doing this.

AI can play a crucial role here by aggregating data across the supply chain and providing insights into potential risks or disruptions. By building intelligence throughout the supply chain, AI can help predict and mitigate issues that might impact your operations. A deeper understanding and proactive supply chain data management are essential for smooth workflows and processes.

Q: What tips or suggestions do you have for labs to successfully seek out local, diverse, and green vendors/products that align with their organization’s sustainability efforts?

A: Over the past two to three years, I'm pleased to see an increased focus from large organizations on sourcing local, green, and diverse products. Many organizations actively promote veteran-owned, women-owned, or environmentally friendly businesses. This trend is evident across our buyer network, with a strong push to support such companies.

One effective way to connect with these organizations is through special events, which bring local, diverse, and green companies together to promote a like-minded message. Many companies showcase their offerings, providing excellent opportunities for networking and collaboration.

Technology can also play a crucial role. By incorporating attributes like "local," "green," or "diverse" into supplier and product listings, technology platform providers can enable scientists or procurement professionals to search for and choose these options easily. For instance, if users prefer to buy locally manufactured products to reduce carbon footprints, they should be able to filter and select those options easily.

Labeling products and suppliers with these attributes ensures that purchasing decisions can be made at both the organizational and individual end-user levels. Transparency helps the organization make informed decisions more effectively while supporting sustainability and diversity initiatives.

What advice would you give to young scientists or entrepreneurs who are looking to solve operational challenges in their fields?

A: I recommend pursuing an integrated education or experience that allows young scientists or entrepreneurs to understand multiple perspectives of the business. Although I'm a trained scientist, I started in sales. This role allowed me to interact closely with customers and bring their feedback to my company. About 20 years ago, I sat in our “customer’s shoes at a different company,” experiencing the same challenges and problems we solve today. As I transitioned from sales and marketing to product development and operations, I maintained a close connection with customers, remaining vigilant in serving their needs.

Simple observations can lead to significant changes. Whether recommending improvements to colleagues, seeking new solutions, or deciding to build something new, it all starts with asking questions and being observant. Listen to customers. Don't dismiss seemingly minor insights. These can be the seeds for fundamental change. Ultimately, believe in your ability to effect change and be willing to take risks when you identify opportunities for improvement.

Siamak Baharloo is co-founder and CEO of Labviva, an AI-powered e-procurement platform for life sciences. He has extensive experience leading digital marketing and eCommerce channels for major life science companies, including Sartorius, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Merck Millipore, and Invitrogen. Siamak completed his training as a geneticist at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and throughout his career, he developed innovative strategies for marketing to the highly sophisticated and technical audience of life scientists, setting the standard in the life science sector.