During my career as head of an analytical lab, I was fortunate to oversee the work of some top-class lab planners. Back then they were planning their lab schedules manually, whereas today, I spend my time highlighting the undeniable benefits of AI-enhanced, automated scheduling; but...
Have you ever seen the KPI dashboards used by e-commerce companies like Amazon? Aren’t they awesome?! They track dozens of performance metrics, all at the same time, and each KPI is tracked with dazzling accuracy. We’re talking about millions of data points being aggregated in...
On March 22nd and 23rd 2022, members of the BINOCS team attended the “Lab of the Future USA” congress, held in Boston, MA. BINOCS was present as one of 15 exhibitors who spanned lab technology companies, consulting groups, lab designers, and sustainable lab vendors. There...
As laboratories become more and more digitalized and lab systems are increasingly efficiency-driven, many people may begin by asking whether Lean methodologies are still even relevant? In this blog, we hope to make a case for why they are, as well as to demonstrate how...
Visual management in the lean lab of the future Making sure your lab runs smoothly is challenging because there are so many things happening at the same time. There are different kinds of tests, done on 100’s or even 1000’s of samples at once. Each test...
In this third installment of our series investigating the role of project management techniques in BINOCS, we explore what-if scenario analysis (WISA) and how it can be used to help predict outcomes and mitigate risk in pharma capacity planning Many worlds lay before you Imagine that you...
With the countdown to the holidays, you’re probably getting overwhelmed with end of year reviews & happy holiday wishes, so, we’ll keep it short 😊 Check out how we summarized our great BINOCS year in 1 infographic. We’ve 1 message left: thank you for all the trust, collaboration, and...
In this second article in our series on the role of project management methods in lab planning, we explore the challenges facing pre-clinical studies and how BINOCS can help R&D labs define and adhere to optimal development plans The road to regulatory approval In the previous blog...
Erembodegem, Belgium and Cardiff, UK, December 7th, 2021 - BINOCS, the market-leading provider of scheduling and capacity management in CGT and QC operation for commercial and clinical products, and TrakCel, the leading innovator of cellular orchestration solutions supporting the cell and gene therapy industry, today...
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 little...
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 incorrect information...
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”? The broad...
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 perform release...
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 is often...
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, is...
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 of escaping...
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 Future...
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 transforming spreadsheets...
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...
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...
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 quite some...
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 customers and...
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 the right decisions today...
