Kanban stock management transformed laboratory operations at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. When the Covid-19 Genomics Surveillance Project scaled to 64,000 samples per week, stock management became a critical bottleneck. The lab was experiencing over-ordering, under-ordering, insufficient storage, poor forecasting, and ambiguous accountability for ordering decisions.
Team leads and Advanced Research Assistants were spending significant time managing stock rather than processing samples. There was no consistent system for ordering, storage, or reordering triggers. Every consumable shortage required manual intervention.
WBT worked with the Sample Management and Portering team to design a Kanban-based approach to stock management, developed collaboratively with all key stakeholders to ensure it would work in practice.
The team procured appropriate shelving and storage, set initial stock levels, and developed a reordering process and Kanban card system that made the right action obvious to anyone in the lab.
“The new Kanban system for stock control has brought about many positives for the Heron team. It has provided organisation and structure to the ordering of stock items, taking pressure off the Advanced Research Assistants and team leads and allowing them to focus on sample processing.”
Sara, Senior Scientific Manager, Wellcome Sanger Institute
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
