One of the most important roles an experienced and knowledgeable gas supplier plays is ensuring that your gas system is operating safely and efficiently. This means regularly evaluating whether you’re using the correct gases, in the appropriate quantities, and making sure you have the proper gas equipment for your business today and that sets you up for future growth.
By providing this service, your supplier helps support and preserve the valuable work your technicians are doing. In addition, a gas partner that stays on top of your evolving gas requirements can anticipate the need for adjustments that may contribute to short- or long-term savings of both time and money.
Following are six areas your gas supplier should be regularly evaluating in order to keep you on the path of optimal gas management:
1. What are the number of cylinders or dewars that are typically being stored on site? Accurately estimating the number of containers you need on hand to fulfill your lab’s gas requirements is critical for many reasons. Of course, you want to have a sufficient gas supply for continuous operations in between deliveries. But often, concerns about running out of gas lead facilities to keep an overstock of dewars and cylinders. Not only do extra containers take up priceless space in a lab, but they also may mean a facility is paying unnecessary rental fees. In addition, when dewars are not used in a timely manner, there is a substantial risk that product will be lost through off gassing. As long as deliveries are consistent and reliable, you should be able to partner with your gas supplier to keep inventories, and their related costs, at a minimum.
2. Is it time to set up a regular delivery schedule? Even if it’s only been a few months since your lab broke ground, your technicians may already be consistently using the same volume of gas week to week for their work. Your gas supplier should be able to analyze this weekly gas usage and recommend a regular gas delivery schedule based on those requirements. Just make sure to double-check with your gas supplier that they allow customers the flexibility to add to their orders if needed and whether they have a 24/7 or online ordering option. Having a regular delivery schedule has many efficiency benefits, but most importantly it should relieve you or a lab tech of the responsibility of constantly monitoring and reordering gases. Instead, you and your team can stay focused on the crucial research and discovery purpose of your lab, developing the next big scientific or medical breakthrough, and, ultimately, attracting more investment.
3. Are your lab technicians trained on proper gas safety and handling procedures? It’s critical that everyone in your lab—from new hires to longtime lab employees—thoroughly understand the proper safety, storage, and handling practices for the gases and gas equipment they are working with. If you think your lab personnel could use a refresher on safety procedures, check with your gas supplier to see if they offer trainings or safety audits that can support you with this initiative. Having technicians that are well-versed in gas safety guidelines can lead to a litany of positive outcomes that not only promote a safer workplace environment but also can directly impact your bottom line, including:
- Reducing workplace injuries, resulting in less downtime and higher productivity.
- Improving compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, reducing or eliminating OSHA fines.
- Building awareness of the signs of a damaged, leaking, or faulty dewar or cylinder.
- Minimizing the chances of a cylinder or dewar off gassing due to it being improperly connected/disconnected, transported, or stored.
4. Would a gas manifold system be a good investment? Making a capital expenditure may not sound like a cost-cutting measure to you. However, for any life sciences lab, including new ventures, a gas manifold system could be a wise investment that pays off in many ways. This system utilizes multiple cylinders or liquid dewars and automatically switches from empty cylinders/dewars to full cylinders/dewars, eliminating any downtime of the gas supply. The manifold also notifies you when the changeover occurs, providing ample time for used containers to be replaced. Having the additional volume capability and reliability of a gas manifold typically means fewer backup containers, if any, need to be kept on site, which saves space and rental costs. More importantly, this system minimizes the likelihood of your gas supply running out and causing devastating and costly losses.
5. Is it time to transition to a MicroBulk or Bulk gas storage tank system? As your business has grown, your gas needs have expanded right along with it. If your lab’s gas usage level has accelerated to one to two dewars per week or multiple cylinders every couple of days, gas supply management probably feels like a full-time job. Transitioning to a MicroBulk or Bulk gas storage system not only removes this time-consuming responsibility but also may reduce some of your operating expenses. These larger gas systems use wireless telemetry to monitor gas levels on the hour every hour and are preset to dispatch trucks to refill the tanks when your gas supply hits a certain level. Working hand in hand with your gas professional, you can determine which size storage system will accommodate your growing gas requirements and the potential time, labor, and cost savings of making this move.
6. Are you tapping into savings and rewards available through MassBio and other industry networks? One of the top benefits of being a member of an organization such as MassBio or the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) is the access to instant savings opportunities for commonly used products in the lab, including gases. For example, as the preferred gas partner of MassBio, Middlesex Gases offers its members discounts on everything from cylinder, Bulk, and MicroBulk gas prices to dry ice containers and related safety products and equipment. In addition, members may get other services at no additional cost, including laboratory safety audits and emergency deliveries. Over time, these savings can really add up and be used to invest in strengthening and expanding your business.
As funding sources in life sciences have contracted and labor, supplies, and materials costs have risen, lab managers across the life sciences industry—whether they’re part of a two-person start-up shop or a large global biotech company—are feeling the pressure to tighten the purse strings. If you’re scrutinizing expenditures, trying to minimize unnecessary spending, and digging for ways that technicians can be more efficient in your lab, you may want to look more deeply at your gas management processes. This is often an area ripe with opportunities to reduce waste and improve productivity without sacrificing safety or quality.
About Middlesex Gases
Middlesex Gases, a division of Linde, is a leading supplier of specialty, medical, and industrial gases and a variety of gas systems, including Bulk, MicroBulk, and cryopreservation. The company was founded in 1949 by welder Joseph Martin Sr. as Middlesex Welding Supply, in Everett, Massachusetts. Today, Middlesex still offers expertise in industrial and welding gases and products but has evolved to focus more resources on serving the ever-increasing gas requirements of businesses in life sciences, biotech, and health care. Middlesex is now the preferred vendor for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio); the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC); BioCT, Connecticut’s biotechnology community; the New Hampshire Life Sciences (NHLS) association; and the Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium (MHEC). With three fill plants, four supply stores, state-of-the-art specialty gas and medical CO2 labs, in-house dry ice manufacturing capabilities, and a large fleet of trucks and trailers, Middlesex Gases delivers superior gas products and solutions wherever and whenever its customers need them.