Labs don’t waste time because scientists and technicians are slow.
They waste time because data is slow.
In most laboratories, whether clinical, research, environmental, food, or industrial testing, the real bottleneck isn’t the science. It’s the way information moves through the lab. Or more accurately: The way it doesn’t.
Every sample creates a chain of data: IDs, labels, tests, results, QC checks, instrument outputs, approvals, reports, compliance records and audit trails. If that data flow is fragmented, manual, or duplicated across systems, the lab ends up spending huge amounts of time doing ‘work about work’.
And that’s how labs quietly lose up to half their working hours, not to testing, but to re-entering data, searching for information, resolving errors, redoing work, chasing approvals, manually compiling reports, recovering missing context etc. This list is endless.
In short, labs spend too much time on manual admin, documentation, and inefficient workflows instead of actual lab work. If your lab feels busy but not productive, there’s a good chance you’re not short on effort, you are short on data efficiency.
So where does time get lost, and what do efficient labs do differently?
The real bottleneck in most labs isn’t testing
Lab work is often imagined as a series of scientific steps. Sample arrives, it’s tested, results are produced, report goes out.
But anyone who works in a lab knows the truth: the testing itself is only one part of the process. Often, it’s not even the part that takes the most time.
What takes time is everything wrapped around the testing:
- Logging the sample correctly.
- Correct labelling.
- Ensuring the right tests are assigned.
- Tracking where the sample is in the workflow.
- Recording results.
- Checking calculations.
- Verifying QC.
- Getting sign-off.
- Issuing reports.
- Filing everything for audits.
None of that is ‘extra’. It’s essential.
But when that work is handled through spreadsheets, paper, emails, shared folders, and disconnected systems, the lab ends up doing the same tasks repeatedly and losing time in places that are hard to spot.
Data doesn’t flow through the lab…it gets stuck
Here is the simplest way to understand where the waste comes from: In most labs, samples move faster than the data. The physical tube, plate, or specimen goes from bench to bench. But the information attached to it lags behind, fragments, or gets duplicated. And every time that happens, your team pays for it.
A delay in data becomes:
- A delay in decisions.
- A delay in reporting.
- A delay in approvals.
- A delay in throughput.
Or worse, it becomes an error.
The most common sources of wasted time tend to be the same across lab types:
- Re-entering information again and again .The same sample details get typed into multiple places: spreadsheets, worksheets, instrument logs, reporting templates, and email updates. Even if each re-entry takes only a minute or two, it adds up fast across dozens or hundreds of samples per day.
- Losing visibility. The question “Where is that sample?” shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to answer. Yet in many labs it triggers a chain of detective work: checking folders, asking colleagues, searching emails, opening multiple spreadsheets. That time is invisible on a timesheet, but it’s painfully real in the lab.
- Waiting (which looks like being busy). Waiting doesn’t always look like waiting. It looks like people switching tasks, multitasking, or doing ‘something else’ while they wait for an approval, a QC check, an instrument slot, or missing information. This is one of the most damaging kinds of waste because it destroys momentum and creates backlogs.
- Errors and rework A mistyped sample ID. A missed QC step. A result entered in the wrong place. A report issued with the wrong version of a method. These aren’t rare events. They are the predictable outcome of manual systems under pressure. And errors are expensive. Not just because they cause repeats, but because they create disruption: investigation, communication, rework, and reputational risk.
The hidden cost of ‘we have always done it this way’
Most labs don’t choose inefficient workflows on purpose. They evolve into them. A spreadsheet is created to solve a quick problem. A paper form is used because it’s easy. A shared drive folder is set up because it works ‘well enough’.
Then the lab grows. The workload increases. Regulations tighten. Customers demand faster turnaround. Staff change. Equipment changes. More testing is added. And suddenly, the lab is operating with a patchwork of systems that were never designed to scale.
At that point, inefficiency becomes normal. People stop noticing it. It’s just how things are. But it shows up in the symptoms:
- Turnaround times that creep up.
- Constant firefighting.
- Reporting delays.
- Weekend catch-up work.
- Experienced staff carrying the mental load.
- New starters struggling to learn the workflow.
- Inconsistent documentation.
- Recurring audit stress
This is how a lab ends up losing huge amounts of time without ever seeing one obvious failure.
How to fix it: Make data move like the samples do
The solution isn’t simply to go digital. It’s to make your lab run as one connected system, where sample tracking, workflows, results, reporting, and compliance all sit together so data flows without friction.
This is exactly what a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is designed for.
When implemented properly, a LIMS doesn’t just store information. It changes the way work happens.
Instead of the lab relying on people to manually keep everything aligned, the system becomes the backbone that keeps everything connected.
What changes when you use a LIMS?
A good LIMS doesn’t replace lab expertise. It removes the low-value tasks that drain time and attention. Here’s what that looks like in practice.
- Less time spent typing and copying: Data is captured once and used everywhere it’s needed from intake through to reporting.
- Faster, cleaner sample tracking: Every sample has a clear status. Everyone can see what stage it’s in. You stop wasting time chasing updates.
- Fewer errors and fewer repeats: Structured workflows, validation rules, and standardised methods reduce the chance of mistakes and make issues easier to spot early.
- Faster reporting: Results don’t need to be manually assembled. Reporting becomes a controlled output rather than a frantic end-of-process scramble.
- Stronger compliance with less effort: Audit trails, version control, and traceability become built-in. Staff spend less time preparing for audits because the evidence is already there.
The biggest gain is efficiency and headspace
One of the most underestimated impacts of lab software is what it does to the team’s mental load. When your lab relies on spreadsheets, paper, and memory, people end up carrying huge amounts of invisible responsibility every day. They are constantly having to remember what’s urgent, track which samples are blocked, figure out where the latest template lives, catch mistakes before they leave the building, and keep the workflow moving through sheer effort and experience.
That kind of mental load doesn’t show up in KPIs but it absolutely shows up in stress, turnover, training time, and burnout.
A LIMS takes that weight off the team. It creates a lab environment where the process is reliable, visible, and repeatable, so your best people can focus on the work that genuinely needs their judgement.
So… is your lab really wasting 50% of its time?
If your lab uses any combination of paper forms, manual transcription, disconnected spreadsheets, shared drive folders, email as workflow management, or reporting templates that rely on copy and paste, then yes, there is a strong chance a large percentage of your time is being lost. Not because anyone is doing a bad job. But because your lab is operating with tools that were never designed for modern throughput, compliance, or speed.
Labs don’t become efficient by pushing harder. They become efficient by designing better flow. And the fastest way to reclaim wasted time is to fix the way data moves through the lab so it’s connected, visible, and structured from start to finish.
With a correctly implemented LIMS, labs can reduce wasted time, cut avoidable rework, improve turnaround, and create a calmer, more controlled environment where people spend their hours doing real lab work not admin.
Because the best labs don’t just process samples. They process information well.
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