Too often laboratory automation is viewed in terms of technologies and
products, the things people use to implement projects. What is
overlooked is the planning that is needed on a management level [often
senior management] to provide a basis for the successful development
of laboratory automation systems.

This guide is the start of a process of establishing policies,
practices, and operational models that provides a basis for the
definition, design, development and implementation of lab automation
systems. Successful systems, those that meet their objectives, are
supportable and can be gracefully upgraded as needed, are not the
result of fix-the-bottleneck methodologies. They are the result of
design-against-a-plan methods.

That planning should be the province of lab management working to
provide systems that will enable those in the lab to work at their
fullest level of capability, to be productive. The material you are
reading is the starting point. The benefits of that planning include:

* improving the effectiveness of automation systems, and their
ability to be supported,
* reducing laboratory operating costs and improving ROI,
* meeting the demands of regulatory agencies,
* a basis for coordinating the work of outside contractors &
equipment vendors,
* protect / enhance the value of the labs intellectual property, and,
* make the most effective use of people's talents.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.delphinus-lae.com/publications/MgrGuideLAE.htm