NEWS
TRIMBLE EXPANDS SUPPORT OF EWB
T
rimble has expanded its strategic partnership with the Engineers Without Borders network, facilitated by Engineers Without Borders (EWB) International. This collaboration will provide a substantial monetary donation, essential hardware, software and specialised training expertise for international projects.
Trimble has been a long-term supporter of EWB’s mission in the US through its Trimble Foundation Fund, and championing STEM education initiatives. Now, the company is expanding its support to the international stage. The collaboration’s first initiative is focused on an 18- month critical infrastructure project in Eastern Uganda with EWB East Africa, focused on a unique challenge: unlocking available local government funds. Up to 70% of the population lacks access to basic necessities such as safe water, quality sanitation, reliable energy and education facilities. While local funds exist to address these issues, district parishes currently cannot access them due to a lack of necessary data, tools and engineering capacity.
“Working with Trimble can help unlock these funds and deliver essential master plans, financial models and engineering skills at the required scale,” stated Peter Nzabanita of EWB East Africa. “This scale is crucial for creating opportunities that lead to sustained impact, including training programs that generate a local talent pipeline and government engagement for continued accountability and investment.”
The project in Uganda will be carried out in three distinct phases. The initial phase includes crucial preparatory work. The subsequent phases will encompass feasibility and technical audits, co-design with community leaders, financial modeling and cost-benefit analysis. This information will be utilised in stakeholder presentations to attract commercial investment. A component of phase two is a hands-on ‘Buildathon’ event.
www.trimble.com
LAB AUTOMATION: ENHANCING THROUGHPUT AND SAFETY L
aboratories need to increase productivity by driving throughput, but this can increase the chances of human error and impact safety. Automation can solve both problems, says Russell Lotinga of Festo.
As demand for services increases, higher throughput becomes a greater priority in clinical and analytical laboratories. However, many organisations struggle to increase the number of tests they can process because analysts can only perform a certain number of tests per day. Taking on additional staff can increase throughput, but it comes with additional costs and impacts on working practices.
Laboratory automation provides a solution that not only increases throughput and improves worker wellbeing, but also makes laboratories more flexible and resilient to future demand fluctuations.
Humans will always be required to perform certain tasks, but every laboratory has a duty of care and must ensure personnel are protected from harm. Asking people to perform the same task repeatedly and more quickly can have significant safety implications. The pressure to work faster can also lead to an increase in human error. Mistakes can result in samples being mislabelled, or results being misinterpreted — both could lead to distress or even a dangerous misdiagnosis for the patient. Repetitive working also presents risks. For example, a survey conducted at one lab found that those involved in manual pipetting for a period of more than one hour all reported hand complaints. Other repeated tasks, such as manually capping and decapping vials, can also result in repetitive strain injury (RSI). With fewer staff available to work, throughput goes down again.
It’s not just employees’ physical health that can be impacted. Personnel undertaking repetitive tasks are more prone to fatigue and find they are left with no time to perform more mentally stimulating and higher value work. Disengaged personnel are more likely to make mistakes and more likely to seek opportunities in more engaging work environments. Labs that rely on a manual workflow may therefore face high turnover. In one workplace study, 89% of employees reported higher job satisfaction after implementing total laboratory automation in their organisation. Laboratories that embrace automated solutions gain competitive advantage. Essentially, automation refers to apparatus, processes, or systems that achieve outcomes with minimal input from humans. Automated technologies include instruments and devices that perform tasks such as sample preparation, analysis, and storage. Indeed, many laboratory instruments can be automated or semi-automated, including liquid handlers, spectrometers, and chromatographs. Automation may also introduce other devices and technologies, such as barcode readers and RFID tags, that can improve throughput and safety by assisting in the tracking of samples. Automation helps improve consistency, ensuring every process is carried out in the same manner, which is essential for reproducibility and quality
8 OCTOBER 2025 | PROCESS & CONTROL
control. It can be used effectively to carry out repetitive tasks, such as pipetting, mixing, or shaking. This in turn fosters a safer working environment because the risk of exposure to dangerous substances or conditions for laboratory staff is minimised. Automated systems can operate continuously, offering increased throughput without the need to proportionally increase personnel. Automation can also enhance precision and speed, reducing cycle times, allowing the processing of many samples simultaneously. It also greatly reduces the likelihood of human error.
The ability to scale services to demand is another
benefit of automation. Automated systems can easily be scaled up or down to meet the changing demands of the laboratory, providing flexibility and adaptability. In addition, automation can enable new types of experiments and analyses, which may be impossible or too time consuming to perform manually, all of which increases overall efficiency. Many people are concerned that laboratory automation is complex — that they don’t have the necessary expertise to implement it effectively. However, working closely with an automation partner from the early stages helps to de-mystify automation, establish the scope of the project, and ensure defined goals are achieved cost-effectively. For example, Festo recently worked with a customer to develop a machine for respiratory testing that could automatically fill vials to different levels accurately, repeatedly and at speed, while also ensuring traceability back to individual patients. The system uses two bowl feeders — one for the vials, one for caps — to introduce the parts into the machine. The Festo handling system lifts each vial out and lines it up vertically before presenting it to the dosing head for the liquid to be added. A cap is then applied, using torque monitoring to ensure the lid is fitted correctly. The filled and sealed vial is then oriented horizontally and presented via a pocket conveyor for labelling. A unique coded label ensures each vial can be linked to a specific patient. The automated dosing system can deliver variable fill volumes from less than 10 microlitres upwards. It processes an impressive 3000 vials per hour and achieves a repeatability of +/- 0.5% with a fill volume of 50 µl to 1500µl. The process can be equally applied to bloods and other bodily fluids, as well as non-medical liquids.
www.festo.com/laboratory-automation
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