New service models give clients unique, flexible project solutions
In today’s global economy, most pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies are being forced to cut costs and control spending. For some this means a reduction in workforce and tighter budgets, which often results in them being left with the same amount of required laboratory testing but with fewer employees to perform the work in-house.
Realizing that these companies are searching for more flexible, value-added programs that will reduce operating costs, Lancaster Laboratories has developed five service models to allow clients to choose the most cost-effective solution to meet their unique project needs.
1. Traditional Fee for Service – the most commonly used method in the industry’s history, the fee for service model allows our in-house staff to provide a broad range of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical product testing on a project-by-project basis, utilizing customized price quotes for each project delivered.
2. Managed Hours – Similar to the fee for service model, this approach allows our in-house staff to provide a broad range of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical product testing on a project-by-project basis with a simplified quote and payment process based on the number of hours used. We recently developed this approach to meet the needs of clients who have a high volume of repeat (standardized) testing needs.
How Managed Hours can work for you
Challenge: A worldwide commercial manufacturing company initially outsourced its raw materials and excipient release work to Lancaster Laboratories utilizing the fee-for-service model, which involves attaining a specific quote for each material and issuing a purchase order/invoice payment on each and every material sent for testing. As the volume of material types being tested grew to 30-50 each year, the traditional process of obtaining a quote and PO for each project became a bottle neck in the process. Adhering to established timelines for getting materials shipped for testing and obtaining certificates of analysis were critical elements for keeping production on track. Equally important to this process was the ability to properly allocate the cost of the raw material testing to the appropriate product being manufactured.
Solution: To help the client meet their goals for production and cost allocation, Lancaster Labs implemented the managed hours program to streamline the raw materials and excipient testing process. We provided a competitive hourly labor rate for routine raw materials analysis and tracked the hours spent on each type of material we receive to provide a monthly invoice accompanied by a utilization report to show a break-out of the testing activity by material type. Not only did this new process save time, it also minimized administrative costs associated with processing purchase orders and invoices and even saved them money on rush fees for expedited requests as rush fees are waived under this service model. In the end, the client received the same deliverables with the same quality of service that we previously provided, including 24-hour data access via LabAccess.comSM but in a more concise, cost-effective manner.
3. Full Time Equivalent (FTE) – a process that provides clients with dedicated full-time employees to work on your program within our facilities using our infrastructure, equipment and consumables. Our team leaders manage your projects, direct the priorities of the team, and can even integrate our operations with client systems/SOPs. We provide detailed monthly utilization reports, and manage the team using the same level of quality, performance and productivity as our traditional fee-for-service offerings. This ensures maximum team performance, and drives the overall cost benefit of this approach. Currently, approximately 20 percent of our pharmaceutical staff members are FTE employees supporting customers around the world.
4. Professional Scientific StaffingSM (PSS) – an innovative program that places full-time scientists and technical support personnel managed by Lancaster directly at your facility to provide a non-permanent, long term and cost effective way to meet your staffing needs while maintaining the same services, expertise and cGMP compliance available at the Lancaster facilities. This award-winning program is fully compliant with co-employment law and has grown to include 15 global sites with more than 250 employees in the past eight years.
5. Asset/Operation Ownership – a process where our company assumes full operational responsibility on the client site. This model can also include acquisition of the client’s facility and/or equipment. While this model may only apply to a small percentage of companies in the industry, some firms are seeking ways to fully outsource non-core activities and divest of the associated assets.
Lancaster Labs has developed these five unique ways to make working with us easier for our clients. From performing testing on a project-by-project basis to acquiring and running your laboratory, we are focused on offering the best solution to meet each clients’ unique needs in the most cost effective manner.
For more information on any of these service models, contact Business Development at 717-656-2300.