by Steve Corbesero, Jr., Director of Product & Solutions, MachineQ
Virtually all industries can benefit substantially by adopting the Internet of Things (IoT) to connect people, processes, and systems with modern technology. This is especially true for lab managers and scientists in the life sciences industry, where keeping pace with modern demands necessitates technologies that enable them to capitalize on data while streamlining and enhancing operations. Here’s a look at four key areas where IoT delivers efficiency to lab managers and scientists to minimize downtime, accelerate drug research and development times, mitigate risk, maximize space utilization, and ensure efficiencies tied to maintenance and calibration processes.
Track and Locate Assets in Real-Time
In laboratory environments, IoT-powered solutions help to transform tedious, time-consuming manual tasks into productive, intelligent workflows that save time and money while promoting the availability of resources for lab managers and scientists. For example, getting the job done right starts with the right tools. But what if these tools can’t be found? Such is the plight of scientists and lab managers in daily operations, who struggle to locate necessary equipment and supplies within laboratory facilities which are typically dense, multifaceted properties with numerous buildings, floors, and units.
While some companies have an asset tracking system in place, rudimentary documentation practices using manual spreadsheets dissolve time and lack accuracy – where manual audits only collect equipment data at the time data is recorded. After several days, the item may change location, and this data is no longer relevant for the tasks at hand. With an IoT-backed real-time location system (RTLS), active asset tags affixed to inventory, equipment, and movable assets transmit real-time location data with sub-room-level accuracy so that scientists and lab managers can find exactly what they need when they need it.
Streamline Calibration/Maintenance Schedules
According to a report by McKinsey, labs that embrace digital and automation technologies can reduce investigation workloads by as much as 90% and improve productivity by eliminating up to 80% of manual documentation work. Logging processes typically done by hand with spreadsheets to document equipment location can become streamlined and optimized so that assets can be located whenever needed – especially important for calibration and servicing purposes. Perhaps more importantly, with RTLS, manual asset tracking becomes completely automated so that staff can spend a fraction of the time they’d normally need to accomplish searching for assets when they need them – a process that normally took days can now be done in minutes. Laboratories have tens of thousands of pipettes, for example, all of which require calibration every six months on different schedules.
Rather than staff manually locating each pipette needing calibration, RTLS provides real-time asset location data with intelligent reports that can be leveraged to expedite asset retrieval processes, ensuring timely calibration and maintenance workflows. This increases productivity by allowing staff to focus on higher-value tasks, while reducing downtime and preventing research delays by ensuring critical assets are properly calibrated and available for use. What’s more, if a pipette is lost and therefore not calibrated, not only must paperwork be filed which takes time and effort, but it could potentially compromise the integrity of the research. Optimizing calibration and maintenance practices in-house with RTLS can also help forego the need for costly, repeat service visits when assets cannot be located, while helping with sustainability efforts by reducing the amount of carbon output resulting from these maintenance visits.
Mitigate Risk with Sensing Capabilities
Another way IoT solutions offer lab efficiencies and mitigate risk is via temperature monitoring that protects the contents of refrigerators, freezers, walk-in coolers/freezers, and cold storage warehouses by ensuring continuous, 24/7 monitoring. Temperature regulation is vital for correctly functioning equipment and the preservation of assets in life sciences operations. With digital temperature monitoring, the functionality of refrigerators and ultra-low temperature freezers can be monitored via sensor-powered devices that collect and monitor temperatures. This data can then be leveraged instantly for automated reporting purposes critical for audits and compliance purposes. Since many items in life sciences, e.g., sensitive biological matter and samples, require specific, controlled climates, IoT-powered temperature monitoring helps alert operators in the event temperatures fluctuate from predetermined thresholds or deviate from their norms.
What’s more, if refrigerator or freezer doors are left open, alerts can be triggered to notify staff, allowing for swift corrective action before temperature conditions are negatively impacted. As a result of these systems, proactive safeguarding of fragile and expensive research is ensured, human error is minimized, and temperatures can be regulated to ensure proper conditions for research viability and equipment utilization.
Further, because lab environments are so incredibly fragile, everything from the equipment, products, research, testing components, and the staff managing these items necessitates stable, risk-averse environments. Water leaks, for example, can be disastrous and devastating to the facilities and everything within them. Huge financial losses can be incurred, along with the loss of years of research that cannot be replaced, while compromising the health and safety of employees. With additional IoT-backed environmental monitoring, anomalies in facility infrastructure can be detected in real-time, which is even more important for unfrequented, underutilized areas where leaks or malfunctioning HVACs can go undetected (think utility closets, basements, boiler rooms, or storage annexes).
Maximize Space Utilization
Scientists require calculated, sufficient workspaces with enough room to research, develop, and innovate pharmaceutical products. However, laboratory environments often fail to meet their needs – especially regarding equipment storage. As a result of space deficiencies, equipment is stored in sub-optimal areas, such as under benches or within research areas, which can negatively impact productivity. According to a survey conducted by Agilent Technologies, one in five lab managers identified the size/footprint of their laboratory as a limiting factor affecting operations, with 59% of them pointing to the need to reorganize equipment to optimize workflows.
IoT-powered occupancy monitoring solutions offer a remedy to this challenge by helping lab and facility managers identify over or underutilized areas, thereby informing more efficient allocation of resources and equipment. These monitoring systems employ privacy-centric occupancy and people counting sensors that can measure both lab/room-level occupancy, as well as inform equipment and space utilization. For example, non-video-based people counters installed at ingress/egress points can provide visibility into how many people are in a room – but not whom – providing anonymous, data-driven insights into the most efficient use of space. Similarly, occupancy sensors placed near benches or equipment offer valuable data on equipment and space utilization. With real-time and historical occupancy data, lab and facility managers can optimize space allocation and equipment distribution to increase productivity, improve outcomes, and reduce costs.
Pave the Way for Efficient Labs of the Future
The adoption of IoT technology offers transformative benefits for lab managers and scientists who can unlock data-driven efficiencies. These advantages enable seamless collaboration, transparency, and informed decision-making, ensuring that the life sciences industry remains at the forefront of technological advancement while optimizing operations and ensuring research viability. Embrace IoT to drive the future of innovation in your lab and facility management.
About the author
Steven Corbesero Jr. is a Director of Product and Solutions at MachineQ, an enterprise IoT company within Comcast. In this role, he is charged with overseeing the company’s solutions catalog and associated hardware and software products. This includes solutions for indoor asset tracking and environmental monitoring. Steve holds a BS and MBA from Northeastern University.