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 PowerLab™ Comprehensive Process Analysis From
Beckman Coulter
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Michael S. Gannon - BCI-Clinicon Consulting Group, Beckman
Coulter, Inc.
PowerLab is a powerful laboratory
process analysis tool developed by BCI-Clinicon. More
comprehensive than LABIQ, it that produces a detailed picture of
individual laboratory processes and measures the impact of
change in multiple operational and economic dimensions. It helps
laboratory management evaluate process reengineering and
investment decisions.
The PowerLab analysis begins with a
comprehensive review of laboratory processes to collect the data
required to provide a baseline against which to measure the
impact of change. This includes collecting data on test volumes,
labor allocation and process organization. Central to data
collection is the process walkthrough, performed by a trained
BCI-Clinicon laboratory process consultant. The purpose of the
walkthrough is to gain first-hand knowledge of the structure of
key processes and workflow in the laboratory. This data and a
detailed description of each activity in the process is fed into
the program for analysis.
The first dimension analyzed is the process
activity mix. Basically, process structures can be described in
terms of five different types of activity: operations,
reviews/inspections, decisions, wait states and transports. The
frequency and relative distribution of each of these activity
types is a good indicator of process complexity and the degree
of value-added activity in the process structure. In laboratory
processes only those activities that represent perceived value
to the client (in this case the physician) add value to the
process. Generally speaking, the value-added component of a
process is equivalent to the number of reviews, inspections and
decisions in the process mix. Obstacles to improved turnaround
time are operations that can be automated or eliminated, wait
states and transports- are targets for process improvement.
The second dimension analyzed is the degree
of potential risk and error exposure inherent in the process.
Potential, rather than actual, risk exposure is a key statistic.
Laboratory processes in blood banks show why. Although the
number of adverse transfusion reactions attributed to crossmatch
errors may be extremely rare, blood banks invest much time,
effort and money to reduce the potential of these errors
occurring. A key risk is human infection from exposure to
biohazardous material. But the biohazard exposure is not the
only risk the laboratory faces. Potentially costly exposure to
legal action can result from matching, identification and
decision errors. Sorting and routing errors can adversely affect
turnaround times. The PowerLab process identifies and
quantifies these potential risks.
Certainly two of the most important
dimensions in analyzing a process is how the process consumes
labor effort and manpower cost. PowerLab generates a
detailed activity-based process cost model using a weighted
frequency cost allocation algorithm which assigns cost to
activities based on processing time, frequency of operations and
resource assignments. Costs are assigned to activities on
a fully-absorbed basis. All man-hours, not just the time
actually consumed in productive activity, are assigned to
process activities. This is essential in determining the actual
labor cost of a process, since unproductive or slack time still
generates cost. Once costs are assigned to activities, the
program then fully-absorbs these costs to processed entities
based on their relative consumption of the labor time assigned
to the activities that are performed in processing them. The
result is an exceptionally tight cost allocation that gives the
actual labor cost for each processed entity. This cost is
further analyzed in multiple dimensions: cost per unit of
output, unit cost by shift, cost by activity type, value-added
cost and annual process cost.
Once all these dimensions are analyzed for
the current laboratory process, PowerLab then analyses
any proposed process changes. The proposed process is analyzed
in precisely the same way as the current process. PowerLab
juxtaposes both processes to provide an easy graphical
comparison of their relative performance. Finally, PowerLab
generates an impact analysis which summarizes the improvements
to the process in terms of process structure, activity, risk
exposure, manpower utilization and labor cost.
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