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Service Tip: Use Remote Advisor – Report to minimize service calls and save money

By Scott Marshall
Agilent Remote Advisor Product Manager

When everyone in your lab is working in rhythm, your lab is working at its best. But when that rhythm gets interrupted by routine maintenance or a repair call, it can hurt your overall productivity and cost you money in some surprising ways.

Remote Advisor – Report offers many views to help you proactively manage lab productivity.

If you have an Agilent Advantage Silver or higher-level service plan, you have a real-time tool that can help you avoid many of those unnecessary interruptions – and the expense of unnecessary service calls. That tool is Remote Advisor – Report. This feature lets you generate on-demand reports that provide a full inventory of your systems, automatically track utilization and report instrument failures.

How do these reports save you money? Well here are a few real-life examples.

One of the most surprising things lab managers have learned is how to use the Device Errors Report to identify reoccurring problems due to operator error.

In one laboratory, LCs were shutting down during nearly every experiment, causing loss of time and sample. A review of the Device Errors Report revealed that solvent bottles were not being filled to the required levels before starting each experiment. By simply training operators to always check the solvent level before beginning a run, the company put an end to wasted runs, minimized sample loss, and lowered the number of service calls.

Another lab was constantly beset by the problem of leaks. Leaks meant analyses either failed to start or failed during the run – a real problem for longer analyses. Operators in this lab frequently had to swap LC columns, and their Device Errors Report revealed that improper swaps were the cause of most leaks. The operators were retrained and the number of leaks – and resulting service calls – declined.

Managers in both labs discovered that the cost of retraining staff was far less expensive than the cost of frequent work stoppages and service calls. Best of all, their training targeted the problems they were facing, making the cost of that training far more valuable to all concerned.

Lab managers have also discovered that Remote Advisor’s on-demand Availability and Utilization Report provides valuable insight into which days in your lab are the busiest and which move at a slower pace. You simply schedule preventive maintenance on your slower days to minimize interruption in the workflow.

The Availability and Utilization Report also helps you spot utilization trends. More frequent preventive maintenance on high-use instruments is a great way to avoid unnecessary breakdowns and keep your lab running smoothly. And, checking this report regularly may help you to identify instruments that are not being fully utilized. When you move those instruments to a more convenient location or direct staff to them during busy times, you not only speed work through your lab, but you also avoid overuse of other instruments and lower overall maintenance costs.

You, too, will be able to find innovative ways to improve productivity and save money by using Remote Advisor’s on-demand reports.

Remote Advisor – Report is available – at no extra charge – to all labs that have an Agilent Advantage Silver or higher service plan. So if you currently have a Silver or higher plan, put these reports to work saving you money, now. If you do not have an Agilent Advantage Silver or Gold Service plan, talk to your Agilent Representative about how you can get the money saving advantage of real-time reports.

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