Siemens Healthcare, in agreement with Inpeco, has won an exclusive contract to automate a new clinical laboratory of Quest Diagnostics in Marlborough, MA. This will be the first comprehensive automation solution Quest Diagnostics has deployed in one of its regional mega-laboratories in the United States.
When fully operational next year, the customized automation solution will allow Quest to process several thousand patient blood samples an hour and will feature one of the largest automation tracks ever built. This track, which is expected to be 200 meters long, will be designed to facilitate sample flow-through processing, testing, and storage via a technology-driven process.
In addition, Siemens and Inpeco will be the preferred providers should Quest Diagnostics decide to implement a comparable automation solution at its other clinical laboratories in the future. The Marlborough site is one of a number of clinical laboratories Quest operates in the United States.
Integral to the design of the new 200,000 square-foot laboratory in will be a fully customized automation solution built to enhance and automate Quest’s manual workflow, transforming it into a continuously operating laboratory plant. In addition to a 200-meter high-speed track, the new system will completely automate the entire workload, support Quest’s pursuit of Six Sigma quality, and provide faster and more consistent turnaround times and efficiency gains.
The automation system also will include fully integrated data-management software enhanced to meet Quest’s custom requirements and to integrate smoothly with Quest’s existing IT systems. The Marlborough site is expected to be fully automated in the second quarter of 2015. Learn more from a Quest news release.
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