Lean Laboratory

Raw Materials & Consumable Laboratories – Why A Push-Based Operating Model Does Not Work

Published by Adrian Fegan in Lean Laboratory on June 8, 2026

Raw material and consumable laboratories often find themselves trapped in a reactive, high-pressure cycle of "firefighting" due to traditional push-based operating models that prioritize testing based on when deliveries arrive rather than when production actually needs them. Here we explore why importing unmanaged delivery volatility, disrupts lab stability, and we detail the operational shift toward a demand-aligned, pull-based system. By shifting the focus to testing what is needed next by production, manufacturing organizations can dramatically increase lab productivity, simplify scheduling, minimize work-in-progress, and replace daily chaos with a predictable, high-performing operational flow.

Lab Excellence for CAR-T Cell Therapy

Published by Adrian Fegan in Lean Laboratory on October 31, 2023

How does Lean Lab apply in the era of personalized therapeutics? Adopting Lean Lab Principles for Personalized Therapeutics: Meeting the Need for Speed, Quality, and Scalability in Cell-Based Therapies

 

Lab Excellence for CAR-T Cell Therapy

Published by Adrian Fegan in Lean Laboratory on October 31, 2023

How does Lean Lab apply in the era of personalized therapeutics? Adopting Lean Lab Principles for Personalized Therapeutics: Meeting the Need for Speed, Quality, and Scalability in Cell-Based Therapies

 

Lean & Operational Excellence in Life Science CDMO’s (part 1)

Published by Tom Reynolds in Lean Laboratory on August 4, 2023

Unleashing Efficiency in Pharma & Biotech CDMOs: Discover how leveling, flow, and standard work can transform CDMO labs, optimize resources, and boost productivity for sustainable growth.

This is part one of a three part series of short articles on Lean and Operational Excellence challenges in the CDMO sector.

Three Ways Lean Lab Projects Create an Empowered Workforce And Why That’s Important

Published by samantha.pare@efeso.com in Lean Laboratory on May 23, 2023

By engaging employees while implementing Lean principles, companies create a culture of accountability, collaboration, and motivation. The positive outcomes of this drives employee empowerment in three key ways. Ultimately, employee engagement in Lean Lab projects leads to a more empowered and invested workforce, that benefits the overall success of the company.

The importance of ‘triage’ in variable effort work packages in quality control teams

Published by Joe McCarthy in Lean Laboratory on September 27, 2022

Teams with high variability in incoming workload, face significant challenges in trying to organize their work in a fast productive manner. A quick controlled Triage process can boost performance without overloading team resources.

Five Ways Lean Lab can help you become a Greener Lab

Published by Adrian Fegan in Lean Laboratory on July 13, 2021

Improving the environmental impact of the lab might not be the initial goal of a Lean Lab project but it can be a beneficial outcome without any extra effort or expenditure.

Are Dedicated Paperwork Reviewers a good idea for your QC Lab?

Published by Adrian Fegan in Lean Laboratory on September 2, 2020

In labs, testing often takes priority while the review is somewhat of an afterthought. However, it is important to realise that until the results are reviewed and approved, we should not consider a test to be completed. There are several reasons why review may not be completed promptly, including volatile incoming workloads and changing/competing priorities.

Structured Problem Solving – The key to Lean?

Published by Darragh Sweetnam in Lean Laboratory on August 26, 2020

Companies that have successfully implemented Lean understand that the “Stability” or foundation the House of Lean is built upon is Structured Problem Solving. The iterative improvement loop offered by Structured Problem Solving allows for the correct Lean tools to be used at the correct time and in the correct way.

Understanding Lean Lab for Operations Excellence Teams

Published by John Larkin in Lean Laboratory on August 19, 2020

Service level is a key deliverable in any lean lab project, and the business will not tolerate poor lead time performance in order to deliver benefits elsewhere.

When designing lean lab solutions, a key design target is to be as productive as possible, while delivering consistently against the lead time targets of the business.