Synergy Scientific Services: Showcasing the Power of Continuous Improvement

Dedication to Continuous Improvement (CI), driven by in depth understanding of processes, identifying and implementing improvement opportunities, and continually developing people, and their skills, can make high-impact, long-lasting positive changes to the way a lab functions and produces its work.

As an on-site scientific services provider, Synergy Scientific Solutions employs teams of experts based in our customers’ own labs. By interacting with customer staff and processes daily, our teams are ideally placed to contribute to the CI activities of the laboratories in which they work. With a dedicated Head of Quality and CI, and dynamic Learning and Development programme, Synergy ensures that our teams are skilled and ready to play an active role in the CI culture of their workplaces.

In this blog, we dive into how - through utilising lean six sigma methodology - Synergy achieves effective Continuous Improvement solutions and results, establishing high performing lab support functions and improvement processes.

What is Continuous Improvement and lean methodology?

Continuous Improvement describes the ongoing process of analysing and optimising processes and their outputs. Often a CI pipeline is put in place, to help prioritise and action the changes required for optimisation over time.

There are many effective Continuous Improvement approaches and techniques, affording several options and routes to success. However, this variety can also make it difficult to identify and implement the methodology that will be most effective to a specific process.

One approach that Synergy Laboratory Services implements and has found to be highly effective in a lab setting, is lean methodology. Initially developed for manufacturing environments, the processes and principles of lean methodology are suitable for a wide range of applications, settings and industries, particularly in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) environments.

By utilising the lean methodology and CI in a laboratory setting, efficiency can be improved through the optimisation of flow, cost control, and efficient resource allocation. Overall, the goal behind CI is to eliminate time deficits, limit waste, and maximise workforce potential, therefore achieving a higher level of laboratory efficiency.

Synergy’s Approach to Continuous Improvement

Synergy focuses on the lean six sigma methodology, embedding Continuous Improvement with people, not imposing it on people. Working from an awareness level with our CI Mindset training sessions for new team members, we then provide Yellow and Green Belt training to our on-site teams of scientists. The training challenges our people to make their tomorrow better than today by looking at their own role and workplaces, identifying and delivering improvements incrementally at first, then through larger projects and cross functional initiatives at Yellow Belt and Green Belt level respectively.

To drive innovation and encourage critical thinking and problem solving, Synergy Lab Solutions empower and train our staff with lean six sigma tools and techniques, so that they can thrive in any situation and promote success at any client they’re embedded and integrated within.

This progressive approach not only develops Synergy’s experts and their competencies, making them Continuous Improvement experts, but also ensures we can actively support any client’s process improvement activities, making Synergy’s services unique in the field.

Outcomes include:

• Improving labour capacity
• Helping minimise risk
• Eliminating bottlenecks
• Lowering costs whilst improving lab KPIs

Synergy Continuous Improvement in Action

Synergy’s ability and commitment to driving improvement through expert, experience-led lab solutions are showcased in several successful projects. Here we focus on our work with a large pharmaceutical industry customer to deliver process efficiencies within a QC environment: an example of how Synergy scientific services can increase laboratory effectiveness and productivity.

Working within our customer’s laboratories and following their processes and procedures, Synergy scientists identified an opportunity to optimise workflows and drive efficiency across the site through the introduction of a Lab Support function within our established team. This Synergy-led group would take ownership of key support activities within overall lab workflows, optimising those activities while freeing up analyst time to generate further productivity gains.

Example 1: Sample Information Management

Process flows in Quality Control can be complex and highly varied, depending on sample types, the suite of analytical methodologies involved, and production cycles. Samples may pass through multiple teams and stakeholders, with risk of delay or error at each transfer point.

The Synergy team took ownership of the sample booking-in process - from warehouse to archiving / disposal - across multiple labs, identifying best practice, standardising procedures, and implementing improvements to increase accuracy to 96% right first time and throughput by 100%.

One specific process change - to capture Inspection End Dates at the earliest opportunity and include the information on sampling reports by default – removed significant and repeated time wastage from the administrative workflow, and:

• Removed a potential source of error
• Enabled the Lab Support team to prioritise more effectively
• Reduced the risk of backlogs forming, which would impact on downstream analysis

Example 2: Documentation Archiving

Timely and accurate archiving of laboratory documentation is critical to regulatory compliance, including adherence to defined retention schedules for different classes of hard-copy information.

A3 problem solving is a structured approach to the definition and root cause analysis of issues within a process, and the application of improvement measures. Through an A3 project undertaken during Yellow Belt training, the Synergy team performed 5S optimization to declutter documentation workstations, improve communication between analysts and archivists, and streamline the documentation flow:

• Archiving turn-around time reduced by 50%
• Improving KPIs by eliminating backlog
• Removing identified compliance risk

Summary

Synergy’s approach to Continuous Improvement and lean methodology contributes to our customers’ success by targeting improvements that are meaningful to the labs in which we work.

In the examples discussed here, Synergy’s solution goes beyond this initial implementation: our teams continue to work closely with our customer’s own scientists and lab owners and are actively engaged in the organisation’s process improvement activities. To date, over fifteen A3 problem solves have been completed by Synergy scientists working hand in hand with our customers, and five Green Belt specialists are deployed within our on-site scientific teams.

Our commitment to learning and development ensures our own ongoing improvement, with in-house capability to upskill our teams with recognised CI expertise and make a positive impact through our work.

With thanks to Amer Gerges, Rabia Nadeem, and Govind Barhey of GSK, whose CI work forms the basis of this article.

Looking for a scientific services partner?

The team from Synergy Scientific Management Solutions work with laboratories across the world, equipping laboratories with expert talent that catalyse laboratory success, from within. 

At Synergy, we help laboratories embrace adaptability with flexible teams who we source, manage and develop ourselves.

Interested in hearing more?

You can talk to our friendly team about your resourcing requirements at: synergyqueries@srgtalent.com