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COST STUDIES

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Study 1: Documentation & Assay Failure

ONE SCIENTIST IN LAB WITH A $100K/YEAR SALARY

ASSUMPTION: SCIENTIST SPENDS 7 HOURS IN LAB AND 1 HOUR/DAY DOCUMENTING WORK

• 1hour x $50/hour x 5 days/week =  $13K/year
• Visual Assay documents real-time & effectively; 
saves $13K/user
• Adds 32 days/year/user new time to run more assays
• Assume 500 scientists/customer

RESULTS: 

• 12.5% saving in FTE time (Cost)
• 9% increase in work in progress (WIP)
• 500 scientists @ 1hour = 
$6.5M in savings
• 500 man months created

ONE MANAGER WITH AN 8-SCIENTIST TEAM

ASSUMPTION: EACH SCIENTIST SPENDS 1 HOUR/WEEK PROVIDING STATUS UPDATE

•  Each manager spends 8 hours/week getting updates
• Manager salary $140K/year– 
save 20% time with VA Pulse
• $28K/year in Manager FTE time + $13K/year for each scientist

RESULTS: 

• 52 days freed up for manager
• 20% savings in full-time employee time (Cost)
• 60 managers = 
$1.68M saved
• 60 managers = 104 man months created

ASSUME ASSAY COSTS $10K

ASSUMPTION: EACH SCIENTIST RUNS 1-2 ASSAYS/DAY

•  250-500 assays/year/scientist
• Assume 20% of 250 assays needs repeat = 50
• Critical – every assay needs to be repeatable
• Documentation is key to reproducibility, small details get left out and can’t repeat the assay
• If one assay fails, then it needs to be repeated
• VA is designed to make assay reproducible

RESULTS: 

•  50 assays at $10K/assay = $500K/scientist per year>
• If VA saves 10 assays, that means:
• 10 x $10K= $100K/scientist saved per year.
• If 500 scientists, then could 
save $50M per year

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CALCULATE SAVINGS HERE!

Study 2: Global Outsourcing

LOST IN TRANSLATION

SCENARIO: SCIENTIST SPENDS 7 HOURS IN LAB AND 1 HOUR/DAY DOCUMENTING WORK

An assay is sent to China from the United States. Language and geographic barriers are just some of the challenges faced. Implementing Visual Assay would save time and money

SCENARIO: ASSAY IS SENT TO CHINA & TAKES 2 MONTHS TO COMPLETE; RESULTS ARE NOT AS EXPECTED 

Scientist sent to China CRO to investigate & after 3 weeks discovers dilution error – dilutions recorded in reverse of US dilution: ex: 1:3 vs. 3:1
Productivity Suffers:
• WIP reduced: 3 months time lost
• Cost increased: US FTE time ($35K – 3mos at $140K/yr) + Travel Exp. ($10K)
• CT Increased:  cycle time lost due to debugging assay
• Assay had to be repeated.

VISUAL ASSAY FEATURES

VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF ASSAYS
REAL-TIME MONITORING
INSTANT COLLABORATION
DOES NOT REQUIRE KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH

• WIP would have been increased
• Cost would have decreased by 
saving at least $250K
• Would not have had to build a training lab for China CRO in the US. ($1M+)
• CT would have decreased

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