Tom here talks about what BSM often finds in Labs:

• Variation in incoming workload.
• Resources dedicated by test/task and/or “weekly bucket” scheduling and/or “available work through available people”.
• Queues and high volumes of WIP.
• Significant effort in controlling, tracking and prioritising samples.
• Ineffective ‘fast track’ systems.
• Analyst roles not optimised or balanced / lack of defined sequences, batch sizes or standard work.
• Focus only on individual test accuracy and efficiency.
• Poor or no performance management / short interval control.
• Lots of NVA.
• Long lead times and /or low productivity.
• Investment in software.