Eurofins Food Integrity & Innovation New Facility
In August 2018, Eurofins Food Integrity & Innovation (EFII) formed after the acquisition from Labcorp of Covance Food Solutions, a network of global food labs and development services.
The flagship laboratory, located in Madison, Wisconsin, is known as one of the most respected analytical food labs in the world. The acquisition plans included a construction project to build a new food lab in the Madison area to relocate the existing business from the Covance/Labcorp site.
The construction has started on our new facility which includes chemistry lab space of nearly 35,000 ft2 (3,250 m2), is expected to cost $46.5M, and will be completed by February 2021, with relocation to follow.
Key aspects to the new construction include goals on efficiency and productivity, as well as opportunities to expand. Working with Eurofins LEAN and OBP (Operational Best Practices) experts across the globe, we designed a lab that will enable the following key features:
- 48% sample increase with only a 22% increase in lab space
- FTE increase of 10% (over the next 5 years).
- The facility is also designed with the flexibility to double in size.
Design Evolution
The new facility will allow our business to operate in a contiguous space for the first time ever, as we outgrew the fixed spaces on our existing campus over the years. Sample receipt, supply and sample storage, and lab spaces became separated across multiple zones and floors. Several chemistry groups are bisected by significant distances, or separated from their supporting instrumentation rooms, requiring long transit for staff to complete their work.
We hired Strang Architecture & Engineering to design the new lab. Additionally, due to the demanding timeline of the project, we also brought on a General Contractor (JH Findorff) early into the process. Unlike any previous Eurofins construction project, a “design-assist” model was utilized, as opposed to “design-bid-build” model. The builder was very active in design decisions and value engineering and helped us create a very aggressive and well-informed budget.
The actual chemistry lab design, and the methods of design, evolved significantly over nine months. Initial designs were firmly rooted in convention: long, straight benches with equipment and resources tightly grouped in homogeneous zones. This was based on an effort to replicate current processes while realizing efficiencies of the consolidation of shared space. Enter Lean.
The corporate Lean and OBP offices played an integral part in the design evolution - the significance of which cannot be understated. The Lean team instilled a novel vision of efficiency: organizing tasks into work cells with equipment and consumables distributed at point-of-use.
The net result was a deep collaboration among lab groups, radical transformation from conventional layout to Lean layout principles, and unbridled excitement for the new lab. The labs meaningfully engaged in the design process and feel optimistic about the new lab. Collaborating with OBP experts from around the world garnered fresh ideas, unique opportunities for process improvement, and additional validation of the new lab design.
Groundbreaking & Future
We celebrated our official groundbreaking on September 10, 2019 – complete with the Madison mayor, golden shovels, beautiful weather (it stopped raining just for our ceremony), and a flyover by two F-16 fighter jets out of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. Okay, that last one was a coincidence, but it felt like a good omen.
While our move to the new laboratory space does not begin until February 2021, we have a lot of work to do before then. Over 30 operational improvements are involved with the new building before we move into it.
