Lab automation going from strength to strength

Installed in January 2008, the 100th system has already been responsible for improving workflow efficiency and demonstrates the breakthrough Olympus has made in the lab automation market in Germany.

As is the case throughout the healthcare community, laboratories today require intelligent solutions to successfully combat rising costs.

With its diverse automation capabilities, the OLA2500 boasts just such savings potential.

One example is in the system's ability to manage standard processes such as the decapping, aliquoting, barcoding, sorting and sealing of test tubes, saving valuable time, money and energy.

One of the companies taking advantage of the benefits offered by the OLA2500 is the Medizinischen Laboratorium Kyritz (Kyritz Medical Laboratory or MLK) in the northeast German state of Brandenburg, where since the end of January, numerous tasks have been handed over and entrusted to automated lab management.

For Olympus, this implementation is an important milestone: "With the 100th installation of an OLA2500 in Germany, we've crossed a magic threshold.

"Just four years after the system's introduction, we're able to declare successful penetration in the lab automation market in Germany", says Thorsten Laubert, product manager, lab automation.

Around 2500 test tubes are analysed at MLK every day.

That amounts to roughly one million test tubes a year which previously required labour-intensive management prior to and following analysis.

"Since the end of January, the OLA2500 has completed these tasks automatically.

"The time we've saved as a result can now be used much more effectively", adds Manfred Hassfeld, founder and head of MLK.

"What's more, samples can now be localised much more quickly, while automatic barcoding rules out any chance of a mix up.

"The system even helps with archiving.

"In short, the OLA2500 has been a fantastic investment".