All established labs manage equipment and instruments through every stage of their lifecycle. New equipment is investigated, purchased, and installed. Existing equipment is used, maintained, and repaired. Old equipment is decommissioned, replaced, and removed from the lab. Lifecycle management is an important responsibility for all lab managers. This is about effective asset ownership, not simply purchasing new instruments. Proactive leadership reduces uncertainty, protects lab quality, and enables sustainable funding by consistently delivering for key stakeholders.
Equipment is the lab’s operational backbone
Along with the lab staff and the lab space, the equipment and instruments are the backbone that enable the lab to deliver its technical outcomes for stakeholders. The science, workflows, data quality, and turnaround times depend on instrument availability and performance. Because all labs face financial realities, these decisions require planning and alignment with the lab’s strategy. As technology advances, these decisions are impacted by the complexity, cost, connectivity, and integration of the equipment used in the lab.
Acquiring needs and solutions
It is critical that labs spend their limited capital funds on equipment that addresses needs, not wants, and solves critical problems for their stakeholders. Needs are items that solve problems, while wants are items that only solve inconveniences. As labs consider new equipment acquisitions, they are best served by first understanding the required solutions before engaging with stakeholders about the features or details of a new purchase.
Key acquisition decisions
Labs have a variety of options to consider when bringing in new equipment. A key decision is whether to buy new, buy used, or lease. Each has its benefits. Buying new enables the lab to have the latest technology and know that it hasn’t been misused prior to arrival. However, this option has the highest cost. Buying used can be much more cost-effective, but requires knowledge of the instrument’s past use. Leasing can move the costs to an operational budget, but limits the expected lifetime in the lab. Any of these options can bring warranties so that the lab knows the instrument will be operational.
Multi-year planning mindset
Being strategic about asset management requires a multi-year planning approach. This includes three-year capital budget planning that reflects the highest priorities from the lab and the budget realities of the organization. It also requires long-term planning for expected instrument lifetimes. Lab equipment can be highly variable in lifespan, with some robust tools being effective for 20+ years and other technologies changing so rapidly that a five- to 10-year horizon is optimal. The plan needs to incorporate the lab’s strategic plan, staffing and skills development, any lab space constraints, and feedback from key stakeholders.
Total cost of ownership
Lab managers need to move beyond the instrument purchase price and embrace total cost of ownership (TCO) as a core decision tool for effective asset management. TCO includes all the operational costs required to own and operate the equipment in the lab, with costs such as service contracts, repairs, downtime costs, consumables and reagents, utilities, qualification and calibration, software updates, and training. These operational costs provide a TCO model to compare technologies, vendors, sources, and replacement decisions.
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Establish performance baselines
Lab equipment must perform to quality specifications to be useful. A critical piece in determining an instrument’s lifetime is developing effective performance baselines that include things like uptime targets, throughput levels, quality metrics, and performance metrics. An effective baseline enables labs to more quickly determine when an instrument is failing to meet expectations and needs.
Data-driven management
Labs need to both document issues with instruments and monitor performance. These will provide the data required to make good decisions. Some key metrics to document include downtime with root cause, service history, and repair costs, maintenance expenses, any calibration issues, and other performance problems. These data can be included in an instrument log or dashboard for easy access.
Maintenance strategies
Keeping complex lab equipment operational can be expensive. Labs need a strategic approach to repair and maintenance. There are three approaches that need to be balanced: preventive, predictive, and reactive. Preventive maintenance ensures that the scheduled work on the equipment is done properly and on schedule. This is a very effective approach to keeping instruments working and living longer. A predictive approach uses different forms of service contracts to pay for repairs and service in advance to ensure that instruments are returned to operation quickly. A reactive approach waits to address issues until after they occur. Most labs don’t have the funding to have full coverage service contracts, so they must optimize which equipment has predictive and which will be reactive based on costs and priorities.
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Continuous optimization
Lab priorities and needs are constantly changing. The planning required to optimize TCO must be reevaluated as circumstances change. This will include periodic review of instrument performance and utilization versus evolving stakeholder needs. Lab managers must be willing to redeploy underutilized equipment and cross-train staff to ensure that people and space are prioritized for the most important needs.
Planned retirement and replacement of lab equipment
As lab equipment approaches its end of life, lab managers need an objective approach to those transitions. These need to be data-driven decisions that enable the lab to optimize its spending to deliver for key stakeholders.
Define replacement triggers
Defining objective decision triggers can simplify the process of replacing equipment in the lab. Three approaches to these decisions include:
- Cost triggers: defining repair costs that are above a critical percentage of replacement costs.
- Performance triggers: failure of the equipment to consistently meet technical and quality requirements.
- Risk triggers: inability to serve key stakeholders' turnaround requirements, inability to get service or parts, or potential compliance issues.
Transition planning
Build transition plans that communicate how old equipment will be taken out of service and replaced. These plans should include things like the overlap period, method comparison and revalidation, and staff training. Effective planning reduces the uncertainty and risk of introducing new equipment to the lab.
Decommission best practices
Successful decommission ensures that the lab is fully ready to move on and all the documentation around the old instrument is complete. There are a few steps to this process:
- Ensure that all data is archived and can be accessed as needed.
- Ensure that the old equipment is safely taken out of service and any hazardous materials are properly addressed.
- Update asset tracking and documentation lists
- Close out any ongoing financial impact
- Properly dispose of the asset. If the asset could have some use to another lab, then donate it.
Reactive spending to strategic asset management
Changing the lab’s mindset from reactive spending to strategic asset management helps improve the predictability of the lab’s output. This will enable the lab to be more operationally resilient and produce multiple benefits, including reduced operational risk, improved productivity, better compliance, more predictable capital planning, and better delivery for stakeholders.
