Project management concepts are ubiquitous in modern planning, including in resource capacity planning systems. This extended blog explores the critical path and the critical chain concepts and their roles in resource management, including how they relate to the BINOCS system. If you already know a...
You might have heard the term before but what exactly is a “Digital Twin” (or a “Digital Performance Twin”)? These words aren’t just marketing-lingo, they’re the next step in fine-tuning your organization’s supply chain. What is NOT a Digital Twin? There is a lot of...
Let’s explore the role of BINOCS within the broader digital lean lab ecosystem. It is inspired by the “Digital Lean Lab” session organized by Ibec on 7 Oct 2021, featuring presentations by colleagues from Accenture, Astellas Pharma, and bluecrux. What is a “Digital Lean Lab”?...
In Part 1 on our series of blogs on Analytical Method Validation, we discussed the ways in which it shares key features with space missions; in Part 2 we’ll explore how you could set up your lab’s very own “mission control center” using the BINOCS resource management system What is Analytical Method Validation? QC laboratories do far more than...
Planning and scheduling without a co-bot management system is hard. Before choosing to implement BINOCS, many labs spend months or even years investing in methods to make their manual processes more manageable. Here we use some common examples to illustrate how importing a legacy system...
Ensuring that any work sequence or process is performed in the proper manner the first time and every time is referred to as First-time-right (FTR) and originates from Six Sigma. When a lab delivers analysis results, they have to be correct. The slightest glitch during...
In the current financially challenging healthcare climate, laboratories stretch resources to offer high-quality testing while expanding their testing repertoire. Since reagents and consumables are business-critical and comprise a significant part of a laboratory’s operating budget, effective reagent and inventory management is one method that labs use to control costs and eliminate waste. Forecasting reagent consumption (which is dependent on demand), however,...
Since both Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have recently entered orbit, we explore what commercial space flights can tell us about QC process validation Major Gagarin to Ground Control Across the centuries, dreamers everywhere have sought to reach for the heavens. In practice, there are many obstacles to humanity touching the stars, the biggest and most significant hurdle being the act...
In 2008, a survey on laboratory automation concluded that most lab workers (88%) believed they would rely on lab automation in the future. Yet it’s 2021, and 72% of scientists now say their sector is lagging behind. The lab of the future seems to have...
So, you’ve automated 80% of your scheduling work, and now you want to take the next step towards making it to 100%. Not so fast! First, let’s take a closer look at lab automation and ask: how much is too much? The Lab of the...
Next-generation therapeutic products, including CAR-T and AAV-based, are already on the market and being used to treat previously untreatable conditions. These products are the future of healthcare, with more than 1,300 trials currently underway with more than 90,000 patients treated in these trials (ARM report...
Aalst (Belgium), 27 May 2021. Bluecrux, a leading provider of process & technology solutions in planning, operations and transformation, announces the acquisition of PlanDomino, an Ireland-based start-up active in QC lab planning. This acquisition further consolidates BINOCS, bluecrux’ SaaS application for QC and R&D lab...
Common issues when using Excel for resource management I’ve been using spreadsheet apps during my entire career (almost 30 years now). It started with Lotus Symphony on an IBM PC AT, then Lotus 123 and finally Excel. And I’m still a big fan! I’ve been...
One of the tricks used by the screenplay writers of the 1960s Star Trek TV series to show that Mr. Spock was an intellectual badass was to have him make calculations to a ridiculous degree of accuracy. This ludicrous precision made Mr. Spock legendary, but...
Are you thinking about digitalizing your laboratory resource planning & scheduling? Maybe already listing a couple of potential software vendors? Eventually, you want to arrive at a cloud-based, laser-focused enterprise software that makes the end user’s life easier and integrates smoothly with all your other...
‘With which systems do you interface?’ might be one of the most asked questions whenever IT executives enter software evaluation discussions. When IT executives ask the question ‘with which systems do you interface’, what they’re really asking is: ‘how will you make sure the interface...
Binocs is pleased to announce the appointment of Akshay Peer (Ph.D.). As a co-founder of TrakCel, Akshay has spent his last 8 years working closely with a large number of CGT developers and associated organizations. He was instrumental in growing the company from 2 employees...
The importance of fully optimizing asset utilization Equipment is expensive, so you need to ask yourself: are we using our equipment as efficiently as possible? Is it giving us the desired return on investment? Should we invest in new equipment or solve capacity bottlenecks by...
Do you sometimes tend to make decisions without reliable data to back them up? In today’s labs, critical decisions about how to optimize the ROI of laboratory equipment are often made based on incomplete information. Having a clear picture of instrument usage can help you...
Advanced planning & scheduling tools like OMP, Quintiq, Ortems, Preactor, bioG… help manufacturers plan their production processes. APS software focuses on optimizing production fulfillment, safeguarding service levels, and managing inventory in the network. Often, we receive the question from clients in quality control: “if we...
During the SmartLab Europe event (100% digitally this year), we were thrilled to meet with a lot of interesting people and exchange thoughts on building a roadmap for the lab of the future. After 15+ virtual conversations with a variety of attendees, our key takeaway...
A case for lab employee retention With the ever-growing focus on improving lab efficiency and service levels, it’s, now more than ever, crucial not to lose sight of your most valuable asset: your people. A high turnover is particularly frustrating in labs because it takes...
The lean lab: how to make your efforts sustainable Making your lab lean can result in productivity gains ranging from 20% to 80% and improve your customer service levels drastically. But many laboratories, who went through a lean lab exercise in the past, often see the...
Setting the scene Clients rely on Binocs to plan and schedule knowledge workers for process development, clinical batch production, service labs… because it assures that the right competent resources and equipment are available at the right time. A multinational biopharma company that already uses Binocs...
With the countdown to the holidays, you’re probably getting overwhelmed with year reviews & happy holiday wishes. So, we’re keeping it short :). Check out how we summarized our great Binocs year in 1 infographic and movie. We’ve 1 message left: We want to sincerely thank our...
Setting the lab targets for 2021: lab performance KPIs, great. But how can you make them actionable.? Increasing your lab service levels and throughput starts with actionable KPIs. But how can you make your lab performance KPIs more actionable? And how can you make sure you are making...
About a year and a half ago, we were asked by a client in the US to help them implement capacity planning & detailed scheduling for manufacturing and quality operations in a CAR-T cell & gene therapy production plant. What are the insights that we...
Introduction For the first time, we participated in Future Labs Live. The conference is the world’s most multidisciplinary event for R&D, quality, and manufacturing laboratories. “BINOCS supports organizations in optimizing planning adherence and throughput.” That was the key message of Mathias Lasoen’s presentation at Future...
“Yes, we lost the game… but I scored!” is not an uncommon expression among soccer players. While soccer trainers incentivize players on an individual level, it’s important that, in doing so, the players do not lose sight of the overall objective: winning the game. ‘Winning...
Daily stand-up meetings: we all know them. It’s where we all get together and discuss the day ahead. In QC labs, however, where capacity scheduling is very challenging, these meetings are critical. Therefore: a couple of quick tips to organize those daily stand-up meetings. 3...
In 2018, Merck KGaA started to use Binocs in one of their QC labs in Switzerland. Thanks to good collaboration between the teams, it only took four months to have the first lab sections up and running. Based on this first good experience further roll-out...
Though defined differently depending on the organization, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are the metrics that we track to boost performance and ensure future success. A lot, if not all, of the KPIs, however, only look at what happened in the past (backward-looking). While learning from...
Scheduling and capacity planning in QC laboratories are challenging and complex. That growing complexity is, more and more, a hurdle that keeps organizations from fully optimizing their lab operations. Binocs, instead, embraces that complexity and optimizes QC laboratory efficiency in 6 ways: One integrated planning...
Pharmaceutical companies evolve all the time: they re-restructure, expand, switch from day regime to an early/late shift regime, consolidate,… These evolutions can be sudden or more spread out, they can have a minimal or big impact, … But regardless of the type or magnitude, you...
Effectively managing many projects at once is challenging, to say the least. More projects mean more interdependencies, more people and team constraints, more due dates… In short, you need a digital tool to manage this. Binocs has a different approach than most other project management...
Planning efficiency and adherence based on… the dishwasher dilemma Labs want two things: execute samples with as little resources as possible (efficiency) while making sure samples are executed without delay (planning adherence). However, efficiency and planning adherence are in a constant ‘battle’: focus on efficiency...
In the coming five to ten years, emerging technologies will drastically change the way analysts interact with equipment and processes in the labs. Such technologies include advanced analytics, AI/ML, robotics and advanced planning and scheduling, and automation. Those innovations will make laboratories more agile, reliable,...
Binocs is mentioned as an innovative approach to study planning & management in the latest Gartner report – which discusses the use of innovative tools to optimize the time and effort spent on clinical trials. The key challenge? The key challenge? We, at Binocs, often...
Binocs and COVID-19 – how do we work during a pandemic? With COVID-19 continuing to impact people, countries, and businesses around the world, the Binocs team has taken all the precautionary measures to keep our employees and clients safe. That, however, doesn’t mean you should...
Binocs supports organizations in tackling one of the most critical challenges: proactively ensuring that the right resources are available, at the right moment, while avoiding too much administrative planning work. That was the key message that our VP of sales, Frederik Jaenen, communicated at the...
With the advent of digital innovations, technology has immensely helped teams to work better and perform more efficiently. Nevertheless, the pace of work is increasing every day. More projects, more tasks, more goals needing to be completed end of the quarter, end of the week,...
Last week, our Binocs crew was present at the Smartlab Exchange that took place between 17-18 February in the Hotel Palace Berlin. Many leading pharma companies from all over the world came together to share insights and learn more about how to make the digital...
The Biopharma 4.0 Alliance, Led by Boston Consulting Group and NIBRT, Announce the Opening of a New Innovation Centre to Further Bolster Europe’s Biopharma Expertise. Binocs is selected to be involved in the B4.0 Alliance Innovation Centre which showcases cutting edge digital technology that is...
How to solve capacity problems? Solving capacity problems before they happen, aka resource capacity planning, can be best explained with a version of Irving Zola’s parable: “You and a friend are having a picnic by the side of a river. Suddenly you hear a shout...
More and more organizations realize how important it is to implement an ISMS (Information Security Management System) that protects their business. This is not surprising considering the rise in data breaches, cyberattacks, nation-state hacking incidents, and ransomware outbreaks. To protect themselves, global companies, enterprises, and...
With the countdown to the holidays, you’re probably getting overwhelmed with year reviews & happy holiday wishes. So, we’re keeping it short :). Check out how we summarized our great Binocs year in 1 infographic. We’ve 1 message left: Thanks for your trust to make...
In a recent article in Harvard Business Review on LinkedIn, titled “ 1 in 5 Employees Is Highly Engaged and at Risk of Burnout”, Emma Seppala, Ph.D., and Julia Moeller, Ph.D. observe that although employee engagement increases productivity and quality, increased safety and employee retention,...
Binocs is a product by bluecrux. Already from the start in 2011, bluecrux collaborates and co-creates with clients that are leaders in their markets. This has resulted in two innovative platforms: Binocs and LightsOutPlanning. Also, global industry watchers and industry consultants follow our moves....
Increasing QC on-time delivery, throughput, efficiency, utilization and employee wellbeing starts with measuring and visualizing current performance. Because: What gets measured, gets managed. Binocs comes packed with out-of-the-box dashboards that can be customized to your needs. We highlight a few below. Contact us for a demo so...
With the past year seeing Kite Therapeutics and Novartis make headlines for their groundbreaking therapeutic approvals, and a host of innovative biotech companies quickly advancing their production towards commercialization, the Cell and Gene industry is rapidly transforming the standard of care for rare diseases and...
According to the Gartner Hype Cycle for Project and Portfolio Management, Resource Management is moving out of the “Trough of Disillusionment” into the “Slope of Enlightenment” reaching the “Plateau of Productivity” within two years. Judging from the attendance and presentations at the 17th Annual Strategic...
Binocs, part of bluecrux, is a fast-growing global company (with offices in Belgium and the US), driven by our mission and opportunity to lead a new category of software. No matter what team you work with, you will be welcomed, challenged, and supported to do...
Before joining the Binocs team in August, Adam spent 7 years as a consultant in the field of healthcare technology innovation in the UK. In the course of his career, he has helped clients to enhance their digital products for the personal health market and, as a result, has become increasingly involved in developing user experience (UX) strategy. Here he reviews the background to the...
In the coming months, Boston Consulting Group will be guiding laboratory representatives from all over the world through a “lab of the future” demo setup in the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (Nibrt), Ireland. From innovative ways to use RFID for sample reception...
Transforming your lab to a lean laboratory Transforming your lab to a lean laboratory can result in staggering productivity gains ranging from 20% to 80% and improve your customer service levels drastically. Many Binocs clients went through a lean lab exercise in the past. More...
We’re excited to finally share the news that we’re opening our first US office in New Jersey to support companies to digitally transform their value chains. We will be using our software to support the pharmaceutical sector in the US, by enabling scientists and lab...
It doesn’t matter what you implement, as long as you do it agile, it’s fine. That’s the tenor that spreads across many companies nowadays. However, when I talk to clients, they seem to struggle with giving the agile framework theory from their training course the...
Cell gene therapy (CGT) and Cell culture development have quite a fixed and sequenced way of process execution. Different people and equipment need to be aligned along this process. But when multiple batches need to be produced, planning the people and equipment becomes quite the...
Resource planning and scheduling is getting more and more mature and is on the radar of a growing number of companies. Result: 2018 was a turning point for Binocs, from doubling the number of clients to tripping the number of planned assets. Binocs is no...
Let data lead the way with the Binocs performance twin Planning and executing efficiently works better when it’s driven by data. With the Binocs performance twin, you get instant access to data analytics in Binocs. Seamlessly integrated Data can come from anywhere — Binocs, LIMS, RIMS, ERP, …...
How to plan QA teams (for batch release) This blog defines, in a high-level way, the scope and the challenges faced by QA release teams and how we, using Binocs, can face these challenges. Let’s start and situate the case. What do we understand with Batch...
The need for one QC performance KPI platform What gets measured gets managed — Lord Kelvin QC Management needs to have a bird’s-eye view on operational and compliance related KPIs QC performance KPIs need to show the past (what’s been executed) and the future (what’s scheduled/planned). In other...
GSK Vaccines Global Regulatory Affairs (a team of 400+ people) presented their experiences with Binocs resource planning at the Making Pharmaceuticals conference that was held in Brussels on March 14th. Why did GSK GRA implement resource management? Why did GSK GRA choose for Binocs? And...
Usage of cloud solutions is expanding in enterprises due to the many benefits it provides. But it can introduce risks if they are not developed and deployed correctly. Providers of cloud-based solutions (such as Binocs) are expected to have processes and controls in place to...
More and more pharma and biopharma companies discover the business value of resource planning and scheduling. There is a strong need to optimize the utilization and planning adherence of analysts, scientists and the equipment they use in the quality control labs, R&D labs or pilot...
A very interesting article by Mark Mortensen and Heidi Gardner about organizations where senior managers and team leaders are increasingly frustrated by conflicts arising from what is referred to as multiteaming—having their people assigned to multiple projects simultaneously. With Binocs we share their vision. We...
Scarce resources in organizations There is a growing shortage of skilled knowledge workers, or “gold collar” workers. The inability to find and maintain enough engineers, programmers, systems designers, scientists and chemists is a serious threat to profitability and growth— especially for project-driven organizations in the...
May 21st, 2019 was a big day for us, not only because it was the first day of the Binocs user meeting. It was also the day on which we unveiled our newest component: The Binocs performance Twin. The Binocs Performance Twin is a configurable...
Digitization, automation and online testing: The future of pharma quality control Recently, McKinsey published an interesting article on the vast improvement potential they see in pharma QC labs. The article positions three possible horizons for which QC leaders can aim: Digitally enabled labs Labs that...
Business context We are a global regulatory affairs department that submits 1000+ submissions/year. We need to make and support delivery commitments to regulatory authorities and our internal supply chain and production partners. It is an understatement when we say that this is challenging. Improvement potential ...
Business context We work with Planisware as a Project Portfolio Management platform. Although quite complex, our PMO and project managers succeed in keeping an overview of the most important projects. The delivery teams have no access to Planisware. It helps for the prioritization and decision...
In a recent report, Michael Shanler summarized recommendations for the digitalized lab of the future. (“Life Science’s Lab Informatics Digital Criteria to Separate Vendor Leaders From Laggards”, 20 December 2018, link requires registration). When we scan for visionary reports on lab informatics, we get stuck...
Business context Every project is unique. Every task requires a different effort. Every activity has a lead time that depends on the business context. Shortly, nothing is standard and will not and cannot be standardized. That’s how we saw things until our department was dragged...
Cell and gene therapies are here, and they’re here to stay. In the last couple of years, very promising results were achieved. Examples include treatments for certain blood cancers that helped patients for which all other available therapies had failed. Another example is a treatment for...
We are grateful for the work with you in 2018 and we look forward to collaborate in the new year!
Business context We are a department of about 450 people. 70% of our work are projects that can be sub-divided into 12 project types with a standardized template. We execute about 1500 projects/year. Our performance drivers are productivity and planning adherence. Improvement potential Projects are...
Business context In 2014 we implemented the Lean Lab methodology. This enabled a major breakthrough in performance and throughput. In the past few years, we see a significant increase in demand variability, both in products as in volumes. We have reached a point where the...
Business context We are an R&D team of scientists that perform experiments in cell culture processing. It is important that the experiment schedule is accurate and that the scientists (mostly in teams of 2) are available at the right timeslots. Bioreactors and downstream equipment is...
About Neomed- Labs Neomed-Labs is a North American based Contract Research Organisation offering high-quality clinical immunology laboratory services. They serve pharmaceutical corporations, biotechnology companies, and healthcare / non-profit organizations with extensive expertise in delivering quality readouts for the clinical development of vaccines and immunotherapies. We...
Our chemical and microbiology lab teams with a headcount of 140 analysts perform release and stability testing for multiple products that are manufactured in our site. The teams are mainly technology-oriented and perform a part of the full test panel. Improvement potential Teams optimize their...
The webinar on KPIs that we organized earlier this month is now also available as a free course on our brand new Binocs Academy platform. So, don’t wait to register. The course is organized in short sections so you can follow it whenever you want and at...
Most of us think visually and when talking about resource planning often the first thing that comes to mind are Gantt charts. Gantts are great for visually breaking down projects and establishing/communicating timelines, but anybody who has worked with Microsoft Project (or similar packages) knows...
Employee development and operational planning You had appraisal and target setting meetings with the people from your team, but aligning training and operational planning can be a real challenge. Let Binocs help you to ensure that the operational planning considers competence development. Frederik explains how...
Demand from everywhere Organizations get work demand in different forms and from different channels. Demand can come from Project Portfolio Systems in the form of work packages that are dispatched to multiple teams. It can also be derived from trial data in a clinical trial...
Operational integration with VEEVA Vault RIM Binocs is used for capacity and operational planning in regulatory affairs and uses a RIM system (Regulatory Information Management) as a source of demand. It already integrates with Liquent from PAREXEL. In Q3 2018 we plan to have an operational integration...
Scheduling lab technicians (and equipment) is typically a time consuming job Demand and priorities change daily so the schedule has to be constantly adapted The supervisor needs to optimize campaigns (batching samples) You need to balance service level and lab efficiency overall, not case by case. (on time delivery versus high...
“Freezing activities “ in the context of this blog is about confirming time and resources, not scope. In our Binocs implementations this is often a hot topic but let’s have a look at this from a few different angles… The value of the commitment...
Attention! We are approaching main stream. It’s our second time we attend the conference. When listening to the many interesting presentations, we see a clear maturity leap since last year. It looks like resource planning for knowledge workers is approaching the main stream and that’s...
QC Laboratories Planning, which is what? Today, QC labs have to be lean labs. While coping with complexity and volatile demand, QC labs are constantly asked to increase analyst and asset utilization, improve right-first-time, and decrease lead times. Binocs resource planning helps to create an...
R&D resource planning seeks to answer the basic question: “What capabilities will we need in the future, and how will we get them?” The specialized nature of the knowledge involved, and the length of time it takes to develop required skills, makes R&D workforce-capacity planning...
Regulatory affairs: playing at the end of the game puts on extra pressure. Regulatory submissions in life-science industries are the most critical milestones in a new product development process and in the further product lifecycle. A solid submission process can accelerate time to market, bring...
When designing new features for Binocs, we’re always trying to optimize the user experience and to minimize the time needed to perform certain actions. We picked five of these time-savers to highlight. Demand: Copy-pasting demand folders Often similar groups of demands appear in a demand...
How lean is your QC lab? Can you easily cope with today’s complexity and volatile demand? More and more QC labs are being asked to constantly increase analyst and asset utilization, improve right-first-time, and decrease lead times. With a resource-planning tool, you create an optimal...
Pharmaceutical products need to be analyzed quickly, accurately and in a timely manner before they are released and distributed to the commercial marketplace (= release testing). Timely is the key word. If releases are slowed down, money is lost. Lab supervisors, responsible for the analyses,...
The primary objective of the people who buy enterprise app is good, actionable output. App developers know this, and seduce buyers with the most fancy graphs, KPI dashboards and reports. Showing compelling output for a small demo environment is the easy part. Making sure the...
Binocs is a leader in smart analyst planning for QC, R&D and service labs. After increasing interest from our lab customers, we decided to step it up a notch. With the new release, labs can include critical test instruments and evaluate capacity requirements of both...
Binocs goes US. We’ll be presenting and sharing experiences at the Annual Strategic Resource Management conference in Philadelphia. The event attracts over 100 senior R&D executives, sharing best practices and new ideas on how to enhance R&D productivity, forecasting and planning. They participate in round...
Decide as late as possible and keep your options open. I heard this as an intro statement at some conference a long time ago, and for some reason I stored it in my permanent memory. When you read it, it’s obvious. Of course you need to...
Through casual conversations with customers and watching users interact with Binocs, one thing became very clear recently: We could make major improvements on the way users add extra (user configurable) information to Binocs objects. We dug in deeper. We asked a lot of questions. We...
Today, we can search through the entirety of human knowledge in less than one second, but can you search the entirety of the knowledge your company has created? A recent McKinsey report showed that knowledge workers spend an average of 20% of their time every week searching...
What is PPM software? I recently stumbled upon a very interesting blog by Vilmos Rajda. He was a believer of the magic bullet project portfolio management sales people promised it to be. But after years of experience he came out a little disillusioned. In his blog...
Christmas and New year pulled me away from the day-to-day rush and that was inspiring. The past three years, I focused on how organizations can improve resource utilization, especially for knowledge workers in environments such as engineering, R&D, quality and regulatory operations. In all of our implementations, we have setup...
A big part of change management in a project concerns overcoming resistance to the “new way of working”. Typically change management aware project teams take the following 3-step approach: Talk to people. List and acknowledge concerns and reasons for push back. Go through the list...
Although it’s pretty common for software applications nowadays, new website visitors that are exploring the potential of Binocs don’t have the possibility to log into an empty Binocs environment and just play around. It’s not that it’s technically a big deal for us to set up such...
Since it was launched in mid-2015, the Binocs cloud application for resource planning has enabled numerous QC (lab) teams, regulatory teams and R&D teams to match resource demand and capacity. Thanks to feedback and input from our clients, the tool has matured into a robust...
Last week, April 27, TayganPoint and Bluecrux organized a round table discussion on Resource Management in Regulatory Affairs departments. RA experts from Merck (MSD), GlaxoSmthKline (GSK), Johnson & Johnson, Covance and Gens and Associates gathered around the topic that was introduced by Apostolos Mamakis and Pierre Roussel from GSK...