Redesigning your laboratory on a PC: New tools for simulation-based workflow analysis

摘要

A set of PC tools has been developed by the authors to make computer simulation accessible for clinical laboratories planning to restructure or to automate their operations. The new tools include modules for the generation of specific workflow files (requests and arrival rates) and for the immediate visualization and assessment of experimental results. These two tools cooperate with a simulation package called Simlab®, which the authors developed earlier. Simlab describes the design of any kind of laboratory in terms of work areas, staffing, instrumentation, tubes, tests, and routings and produces useful performance data for a given experimental scenario. These performance data include hourly utilization patterns for each individual staff member and piece of equipment, hourly sample queue patterns in front of each workplace, and turnaround times for stat and routine orders. Simlab in combination with the new tools is used for the authors’ technology-based services in laboratory workflow analysis. An example can be downloaded from the authors’ Web site at http://www.trillium.de. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Lab Robotics and Automation 10: 215–221, 1998