A task-targeted automation system: a case study.

Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Regional Laboratory recently achieved an important milestone in its continuous quality improvement project by automating time-consuming and labor-intensive tasks involved in preanalytical and postanalytical sample processing. The new task-targeted automation system, the most sophisticated of its kind in the world, consists of three key components: the Roche Diagnostics PSD 1 primary sample decapper/sorter/archiver, the Roche Diagnostics VS 250 aliquoter, and a data manager/process controller developed by Data Innovations. The system was placed into service in April 1998, culminating more than a year of planning and implementation. Within months after the system went into operation, the laboratory observed significant improvements in workflow and efficiency, as well as a reduction in work-related injuries. The purpose of this article is to provide management teams in other laboratories with a description of the planning and implementation process and offer suggestions for those contemplating a similar program.