We are now entering our 45th year in the testing business, and it seems a good time to take stock of what we’ve learned from our experiences. Looking back, we seem to have changed a lot in some ways, and in others not at all—providing high-quality analytical services has been our mission since 1961.

Our initial testing business focus in the then rural Lancaster County was agribusiness, assisting companies such as Victor Weaver’s (now Tyson) develop new products. Research and development and routine testing for agribusiness firms enabled us to survive during those early, lean years.

Environmental awareness was virtually non-existent in 1961. (We were founded nine years before the USEPA was formed.) Consequently, there was almost no demand for environmental testing. That began to change during the late ‘60s, and we added environmental testing capabilities. We became incredibly busy in environmental, growing 25 percent or more each year for many years.

Next came pharmaceutical testing services, which we began offering in the mid-1980s. Our high-quality, personal-service model dovetailed perfectly with the pharmaceutical industry’s need for contract analytical services, and today we work for all the major pharmaceutical companies and many of the small to mid-size companies across the nation.

The national environmental testing market is even larger than the pharmaceutical one. However, the market is much more mature and thus, competitive. Nevertheless, increased sales efforts, service centers, efficiency studies, and a commitment to excellence on the part of our staff have enabled us to continue growing.

As we look toward our future, what are the key lessons we learned from our first 44 years?

Stay in close touch with clients. No matter what we believe about ourselves, it’s only what our clients think that counts. We look to you to tell us how we’ve been doing and give us a good idea of the testing you will need in the future.

Wisely select and add new services. We must continuously renew ourselves or be overtaken by competitors.

React quickly. In spite of our best efforts to forecast the future, we’ve been pleasantly surprised with some huge, new opportunities over the years.

Streamline operating procedures. We must continue to increase productivity through our cross-training initiatives, simplified Six Sigma projects, and technology upgrades.

Maintain quality differences. This is imperative if we are to retain clients who value quality and service and are willing to partner with us over the long term.

Be a great place to work. We expect a lot from employees, as do our clients. In turn, we strive to make Lancaster Laboratories a great place to work. We continue to move in the right direction as evidenced by again making the list of Best Places to Work in PA.

Our aspiration as a laboratory is to be best-in-class, the gold standard of our industry in what we do. Paying close attention to these key “lessons learned” will, I believe, keep us moving in the direction we want to go