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The World Needs Us To Deliver COVID Tests Fast!

For the last 30 years, AccuPlace has been the industry leader automating the assembly of the adhesive components in diagnostic tests. This automation plays a critical role in delivering tests quickly and efficiently when we need it the most.

The battle against Covid-19 is a race to get microfluidic diagnostic systems to market at scale. Since time is our enemy, the negative impact of coronavirus against humanity increases. One key tool to help microfluidic diagnostic companies produce millions of tests per week is to automate the assembly of the adhesive components with Accuplace.

Here are 5 top tips to help automate adhesive component assembly quickly and efficiently:

1. Stick with Standard. Standardized equipment requires little additional design time. They have been designed, tested, and refined over the years. A custom-built machine needs to be conceptualized, designed, built, and tested. Now more than ever, swift action is crucial. To get quick production in volume, using standardized platforms eliminates the thing every project manager needs to mitigate; RISK. 

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2. Stick with Experience. With billions of people counting on the results, this is not the time for “learning on the job”. Pick an adhesive converter experienced with delivering die cuts for automation. Converting methods are quite different and lower-tech for hand assembly. The expertise of a quality die-cut converting organization can help quickly guide you through the maze of manufacturing techniques, liners, and adhesives to achieve the consistent die-cut rolls necessary to automate film adhesive assembly.  

3. Stick with Must-Have Items. Identify “must-have” and “like to have” items then prioritize. Prioritization helps stakeholders reach a common understanding of what is urgently needed. In a high-speed project, eliminating items that are not absolutely necessary helps the team come together to work diligently. Keeping the focus on what is important gives the greatest chance of delivering quickly. If you are trying to get automation delivered quickly, you need to eliminate those “like to have” extras that take time to implement. 

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4. Stick Your Neck Out and Share Your Budget. It may seem counter-intuitive to share your available budget. No one wants to be taken advantage of. In order for an adhesive die-cut automation partner to offer up the right solution in the quickest time, there needs to be an understanding of what your monetary constraints are. Trust your partners and be realistic with them. They will be empowered to pull out all the stops for a solution that meets your goals. 

5. Stick with Solutions that can be supported by your in-house technical support capability. Automated is not the same as automatic. Complex machines require a support staff with the expertise to help get things back on track when the inevitable machine error or breakdown occurs. Without a technical organizational infrastructure in place, your FastTrack automation investment will never reach its goals quickly. 

The opportunity for diagnostic companies is huge. Especially those with microfluidic rapid diagnostic systems, but in order for these organizations to produce the hundreds of millions of tests needed, they must have the discipline to stick with processes and technologies that are proven. Lastly, acknowledge to yourself and your organization that this is not the simplest of things to achieve. There will be challenges and failures that “going fast” always exposes. It will be difficult and frustrating at times. I can’t tell you it will be easy. I can tell you, however, helping the world through this difficult time will be worth it.