Transportation | Movement of work or paperwork, sample, from one step to the next step in the analytical process or from one place to the other Long distance movement between buildings or time consumed to reach the next location for processing Sample management-proper packaging and storage for sample transportation | Make the distance over which something is moved as short as possible Consider work cells and co-located teams Establish chain of possession forms and adhere chain of custody and sample integrity |
Inventory | Any supply that is in excess or less, hence performing stocktaking to avoid pending cases, creating backlogging. Any form of batch processing Producing more profiles, analytical or computing statistical data, than customer demand or submission Movement of people, staff reallocation and placement | Purchase only enough to satisfy your downstream sample process and what is submitted to the laboratory Ensure that work arrives at the downstream process when it is required and does not stay pending or put away for storage Reducing batch sizes eventually to a batch size of one where necessary, thus reducing the amount of reagent usage Create print on demand processes for reports and documents for the specific sample/exhibit of the case-file reducing stationary usage |
Motion | Movement of analysts during processing Use of network for data transfer Limitation of staff from different work areas into other restricted or private | Arrange work areas to reduce movement Consider cell type processing (each process to have its own cubicle) Part trays located close to the worker Provide extra fax, copy machines and computers and locate files at work stations Use color codes as much as possible to differentiate processing areas or laboratory coats |