As RQ Bio grew to run multiple antibody discovery programmes, they recognised the need to set up their own lab. Facing the sizeable project of establishing a lab, bringing staff onboard, and equipping the lab from top-to-bottom, they reached out to Amici to help support the lab set-up process and reduce the in-house burden on their lab team’s time away from core scientific discovery work.
MyAmici led the project and sought customer decisions for each order, then tracked hundreds of items with careful logistics management to meet the tight timeframe of establishing the new lab in 6 months.
Experience of similar lab fit out projects meant that the Amici team could flag early on items that would have longer lead times to prioritise crucial equipment deliveries arriving on time.
Together we achieved setting up the new lab within budget, and enabled RQ Bio to scale up operations in line with their scientific goals.
To others considering using Amici to set up a lab I would say do it! Organisations like Amici allow us to focus our limited resources on the science and use specialists for other functions such as biotech procurement. The service comes at a cost, but it’s still more economical than to try and stretch ourselves in-house away from our core scientific work. The level of service we received throughout the lab set up process was second to none.
– Hayden Selvadurai, Head of Portfolio Management at RQ Bio
The RQ Bio management team had set up a lab before, so knew that it would take a lot of time to source everything. Given their small size, they realised their capacity for managing the lab set up process themselves would be a stretch. For example, every day spent looking up different equipment providers would be a day not doing scientific research. Engaging an external specialist meant that their internal resources could focus wholly on their intense scientific discovery work.
Having worked with Amici to set up a lab before, one of the management team proposed a business case that although an external lab equipment purchasing solution would cost money, it would be much more costly to run the process in-house. They also recognised that setting up the lab themselves would probably become a full-time project for one person for 4 months, and no-one could justify putting aside their scientific work for that long.
Informed project plan: Amici prioritised the sequencing of events to ensure items with longer lead times were ordered ahead of less critical path equipment.
Best lab equipment: Amici are experts in negotiations and in sourcing competitive comparisons, allowing RQ Bio to make informed choices on the best equipment for their lab across the full range of suppliers able to meet their needs.
Effective logistics management: Amici managed the logistics of each item, driving the decisions needed, ensuring orders were placed, the proforma invoices were paid where required, accounts were set up with the supplier, and the eventual deliveries were scheduled and tracked.
Clear timeline management: Collaboration with weekly structured meetings between Amici and the customer, in addition to regular informal communications, kept the project on track.
Fast-track lab set-up: The lab equipment team (many of whom have scientific backgrounds) have set up many labs over the years. The lessons learned and knowledge that they brought enabled RQ Bio’s lab set up process to be fast-tracked. Amici’s tried and tested approach became the equivalent of a lab operations in-house role and RQ Bio could rely on the team that their equipment purchasing was under control.
Met lab set-up budget: RQ Bio would have hoped to negotiate discounts themselves but acknowledge that Amici negotiated savings well beyond their expectations, which helped keep the lab set up costs within budget.
Lab set-up with high quality equipment: The quality of equipment used in the lab meets their scientists requirements. Had they done the project in-house, they may only have sought prices on 1 or 2 brands with whom they had worked with before. For many purchasing decisions, Amici raised questions to ensure the items were fit for purpose that the customer did not anticipate. Without these insights, some equipment may not have been the best fit.
Lab operational on time: RQ Bio had a clear view of the logistics decisions required, and impact on timelines, thanks to Amici’s experience of running other similar lab set up processes. They knew exactly what was expected of them to deliver the operational lab on time.
Whether you’re building from the ground up or expanding capacity, we help biotech teams stay focused on science while we handle procurement and logistics.
Get in touch with us today to explore how we can partner with your lab.