From 28 Days to 9: Eliminating a Backlog in the Wellcome Sanger Genotyping Lab

Lean Six Sigma laboratory improvement delivered dramatic results at the Wellcome Sanger Genotyping Lab. Following a period of staff turnover, the team was in difficulty. A backlog of 160 plates had built up. Processing times had stretched to 28 days. Clients were chasing work daily and some had already begun outsourcing to third-party suppliers.

The Challenge

Newer team members lacked the skills to handle the full range of work. Experienced staff were cherry-picking easier plates, leaving the hardest work untouched. The team had no shared understanding of their own performance.

What We Did

WBT applied a Systems Thinking approach, helping the team see how their work actually flowed, not how they assumed it did.

• Introduced 5S, all work organised in date order, eliminating cherry picking
• Developed team-owned performance measures using Statistical Process Control (SPC)
• Introduced daily huddles around a shared work board
• Built skills transfer into daily workflow with experienced staff coaching newer members on harder plates in real time

The Results

• Processing time reduced from 28 days to under 9 days
• Backlog reduced from 160 to 23 plates
• Approximately 30 daily client chase requests eliminated entirely

The team moved from working as individuals to operating as one unit with shared accountability and daily improvement routines embedded into how they worked.

Could your organisation benefit from a similar approach?
Book a free 30-minute diagnostic call with Lee Walker. Call 07736 379911 or email info@wbt.org.uk