"FUTURE PROOF" 

"Future Proof" is often heard about products when shopping for automation solutions for your lab. It means selecting systems and instrumentation that can adapt to the evolving demands of your scientific research, balancing flexibility with cost and complexity. Let's challenge our assumptions here.

Is “future-proof” a sales feature or a user feature? Sales features are aspects that are highlighted to attract buyers and convince them of the product's worth. User features are aspects that directly affect how users interact with the product and the value they derive.

The upsides are obvious to buying a system that claims to be future-proof, like dating two people at once, but the downsides are worth considering (in both cases). Downsides may include:

• Higher Costs: Future-proof designs typically require advanced technology, leading to higher upfront costs.

• Complexity: These systems are more complex, requiring specialized training and potentially leading to longer downtimes if labor is diminished or are under trained.

• Overengineering: There's a risk of adding unnecessary features that inflate costs and complexity without enhancing laboratory operations.

• Implementation Delays: The design and setup of sophisticated systems can extend development timelines, delaying their operational use.

• Uncertainty in Future Needs: Accurately predicting technological and laboratory advancements is challenging, risking obsolescence or suboptimal choices.

• Resource Diversion: Significant investment in future-proof systems might divert funds and labor from essential current needs or upgrades.

• Maintenance and Support: Advanced systems may require costly and complex maintenance and can lead to vendor dependence for support.

• Downtime: A system which was designed to be future proof might have less reliability or ease of use and lead to more frequent failures.

If you're new to automation, instead of throwing money, time, people, and complexity into a future proof system, initially it may be wise to focus on creating a practical limited workcell or a set of instruments tailored to specific workflows, optimized for ease of use, reliability, affordability and/or simplicity. This strategy helps manage costs and complexities while laying a foundation for scalable automation. Your laboratory users will be more comfortable learning how to use such a system, so it’ll be used more often. Once these limited automated workflows demonstrate success and a clear return on investment, we can naturally progress to expanding our setup or adding new assemblies for more ambitious applications.

This phased approach isn't just about resource allocation; it's about establishing a reliable automation foundation to support future scientific breakthroughs. By marrying precise management of current needs with proactive phased planning, we aim to cultivate a laboratory environment that excels in both precision and adaptability, paving the way for continuous innovation. 

For additional guidance on choosing and onboarding laboratory equipment, please contact us today for a free discovery consultation.