Breda, 25 August 2021
I look back fondly on my time at Lab Services and I am proud of the way Ferry de Vugt and Arjan Hofman have been running the company since the takeover in 2017. I was in the prime of my life, in good health and full of ideas I still wanted to realise with Lab Services. However, I did not want to end up having to make decisions that could potentially jeopardise the continuity of the business. We were growing rapidly in every conceivable way. We had invested in many new markets and Europe and the USA in particular were at our feet. The time had come to take the next step.
Whereas our company had its start in the Crop market, we had also been gradually expanding our foothold on the Pharmaceutical market for the past few years. Now, many years later, Lab Services has acquired a position in which it is well represented and visible on both markets. Clients come to Lab Services with a wide variety of problems and complex issues. Using the most advanced dynamic scheduler PlateButler®, Lab Services is able to assist these clients with the highest degree of flexibility, thereby carving out a share of the highest segment of the market. This has led to even further growth.
During Lab Services’ early years, we only provided support and service to various laboratory robot products for foreign companies. Today, we use PlateButler® to develop fully automated laboratories, which are generally fed by microtiter plates, and our systems are used all over the world - even as far as Australia! Some companies are even growing plants on microplates, how fantastic is that?! At the time, PlateButler® was used to lay a solid foundation and it never ceases to fascinate me how Lab Services uses this technology to stay on top of the latest developments. On the other hand, I certainly see some wonderful challenges in Lab Services’ future:
- Think of e.g. markets that still use outdated protocols and large volumes, making it difficult to automate applications. Perhaps Lab Services can assist companies in these markets with the modification of their protocols and validation processes, thereby paving the way for laboratory automation.
- I also see Lab Services playing an increasingly prominent role with PlateButler®. With its excellent and robust quality and strong focus on service, PlateButler® is bound to become a staple on the market!
- Lastly, COVID-19 made travelling quite difficult for a while. Now it is time to go back to installing systems and providing service. Hopefully, we can soon start flying all over the world again and Lab Services can further expand its local support efforts.
I have no doubt that Lab Services will begin to play an even bigger role in the laboratory automation market in the very near future.
Marcel J.R.M. Mossou