Proactive management approach leads to better service

Laboratory audits for quality assurance and regulatory compliance occur constantly at Lancaster Laboratories. Clients, government inspectors, and the lab’s own Quality Assurance Group perform these reviews, and it is not uncommon for the lab to have three or more of these audits in a single week. There is no question that all of this scrutiny is one of the reasons that the lab’s quality systems are so strong. Lancaster Labs’ operating systems, however, had never been reviewed by an outside firm, and so last fall the company hired an outside firm to perform a unique kind of audit. Specifically, the audit focused on the processes and systems used to move samples and data through the laboratory from an operations-management and personnel-management standpoint. With her lab area reorganized to improve efficiency, Christi Morgan, left, holds a daily morning meeting with her group to discuss the day’s projects. The audit findings indicated a number of areas to focus on in order to continue to improve service levels and on-time delivery. Working in partnership with the consultants, laboratory management defined a number of key metrics to focus the improvement efforts. New service-level metrics were developed that focus on the cycle time of the various steps needed to deliver data to clients on time. Additional quality measures were developed to focus on first- pass percent, meaning the percent of data that flows through the laboratory without correction or rework. Initial activities were focused on the company’s Pharmaceutical Division, and after early success there, the Environmental Division is in the process of undertaking a similar project. “This is another component of continuous improvement,” explains Dr. Tim Oostdyk, Chief Operating Officer. “We’ve grown our business on delivering excellent quality and service, but to be a leader in a competitive environment, you have to keep investing in your operations and leadership team so that they can deliver the best value to clients.” Part of the process involves training supervisors to manage workflow more effectively. Supervisors are trained to take a more proactive approach to meeting deadlines by setting specific reasonable expectations, communicating with analysts more frequently on progress, and analyzing and eliminating barriers to completing assignments. Once baseline measurements for quality and service are made, employees identify and eliminate the roadblocks that keep them from getting their jobs done on the first pass. For example, the Raw Materials Group altered the flow of data needing corrections after GMP review so that a group leader reviews all requests for documentation changes. This has resulted in a better understanding and standardization of the requirements for recording data and fewer requests for changes later in the process. In another laboratory, analysts reorganized their work area to create more workspace, make key supplies readily available, and improve efficiency. “Our objective is to produce the highest quality data in the most efficient manner in order to meet our clients’ deadlines each and every time,” says Oostdyk. “Giving our supervisors tools to manage the work flow more effectively will help us to consistently achieve that goal.”