Tools of the Trade
This conference promises to bring new management tools to everyone who attends. The workshops and conference cover a variety of topics of interest to all lab managers. And this year ALMA brings attendees a first—the opportunity to participate in team building activities where they will learn skills to share with colleagues back home—be sure to bring sneakers! There’s even a tour of a state of the art R&D facility, and for those craving a bit of culture, a reception at a local museum. The Boston area is a hot bed for new ideas we hope to share with you in the comfortable and beautiful setting of the Waltham Woods Conference Center, just 12 short miles outside of historic Boston. This is also prime “leaf peeping” time and the area will be in full bloom. Don’t miss this opportunity to add to your tool belt, and to network with other lab managers.
Program
2008 Program Chair
Lynne Garone, E Ink Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2008 Topics and Speakers
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The Leadership Challenge: Getting Things Done in White Water
Samuel H. Liggero, AirPrint Networks -
Creating Innovative Space
Robin de la Parra, Millipore Corporation -
Can Anyone Document Processes?
Scott Helmers, Harvard Computing Group, Inc. -
Management the Hard Way…A Scientist in the King’s Robes
Mike Neag, ICI TechDirect
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Communication Across Cultures
Mary Viola, Tufts University -
Wait a Minute! Hear me out…
Daniel J. Schneck, Virginia Tech -
Going Paperless: Converting from Paper Forms to an Electronic Laboratory Notebook for Routine Analyses
Dale Seabrooke, Labtronics, Inc. -
Results of Pilot Trial with Electronic Laboratory Notebooks
Norm Lucas, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. -
Becoming an Effective Mentor
John Ford, Project Solutions
Exploring the Dynamics of Teamwork
Facilitated by Project Solutions on Friday Morning.
This interactive, three-hour, team-building exercise brings into action multiple concepts of project management: planning, implementing, resource management, communication, leadership, problem solving, conflict management, change management, execution and quality. Each attendee at the conference will have the opportunity to participate in three, distinct, team-oriented exercises during this session. At the end of the exercises, there will be a debriefing session to discover the lessons learned during the exercises and discussions focused on how these lessons can be applied back at work. ⇑
General Conference Information
Location
All meetings and workshops will be held at the Conference Center at Waltham Woods, 860 Winter Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02451. Located in the technology corridor surrounding Boston, the conference center is a full-service meeting venue with 9,000 square feet of dedicated meeting rooms combined with superior food, in-room technology, and service.
Accommodations
A block of hotel rooms for ALMA conferees is being held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 420 Totten Pond Road, Waltham, MA 02451. The hotel room rate for the ALMA conference is $149 for either a single or double room, plus tax. To make reservations, call 877.782.9444 or 781.890.0100. Be sure to mention that you are attending the ALMA Conference. The deadline for hotel reservations at the conference rate is September 15, 2008. Complimentary internet access will be available at the hotel.
Getting to the Hilton Garden Inn
Boston’s Logan International Airport provides connections to all major domestic and international hubs. The airport is 19 miles from the hotel. Current ground transportation costs are approximately $60 roundtrip for shared shuttle service and $75 one-way for a taxi from Logan International Airport to the hotel.
Driving Instructions from Logan International Airport
Exit airport and follow signs to Rt. 90 Mass Turnpike west. Take turnpike to Rt. 128 North. Take Route 128 North To Exit 27A Totten Pond Road. Exit ramp to traffic light and turn right onto Totten Pond Road. Hotel is 1/4 mile on the right. Drive is approximately 50 minutes. ⇑
Conference & Workshop Registration
Important Conference Deadlines
Registration deadline is September 15, 2008. This deadine applies to Conference, Pre-Conference Workshops, and hotel registration.
Registration
You can register two ways:
Cancellation
Written notice of cancellation must be received on or before September 15, 2008. A processing fee of $30 will be deducted from refunds. ⇑
Additional Information
Group discounts
Group discounts available for groups of 3 or more from the same organization for conference registration. Please contact ALMA for further details.
ALMA’s Distinguished Service Award for Laboratory Management
Do you know an outstanding laboratory manager? ALMA’s Distinguished Service Award for Laboratory Management recognizes outstanding performance and service to the profession of analytical management. This recognition began in 2002 and is sponsored by Agilent Technologies. To nominate an outstanding lab manager complete the form available online or contact ALMA.
ALMA Pre-Conference Workshops
October 14, 2008
- Applying LEAN Principles in the Analytical Laboratory. Derek Lake and David Zoller, Instructors.
- Essentials of Laboratory Safety. Wayne Collins, Instructor.
- Leadership for the 21st Century. Alan Cabelly, Instructor.
October 14–15, 2008
- Maximizing Efficiency & Efficacy in the Global Analytical Laboratory. Jan Damm and Alexander Debets, Instructors.
October 15, 2008
- The Analytical Laboratory in a Regulated Environment. Tony Montana, Instructor.
- Practical Management of the Modern Analytical Laboratory. Claude Lucchesi, Instructor.
- Talent Management in the Lab. Alan Cabelly, Instructor.
- Influence Without Authority. Mary Adams Viola, Instructor.
Applying LEAN Principles in the Analytical Laboratory
1-Day Workshop: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $495 Instructors: Derek Lake and David Zoller
This is a one-day, interactive course for analytical laboratory leaders who want to learn how to implement LEAN principles in their workplaces for improved productivity. LEAN is a methodology designed to remove “waste,” or inefficiency, from a process. LEAN utilizes tools such as value-stream mapping and visual management to remove unnecessary activity such as non-standard work, allowing for the implementation of simple and fast adjustments to current processes. LEAN action workouts allow participants to make and evaluate changes completely within the scheduled workout. This course will focus on optimizing performance in the total laboratory workflow, which in turn has positive effects on sample throughput, turn-around time, and other laboratory metrics. The course will pivot between classroom learning and hands-on activities, allowing participants to apply the principles as they learn. This course will not be an in-depth study of LEAN principles and theory. Instead, participants will be introduced to these principles and theories and how they can be applied in a laboratory setting. Actual laboratory LEAN events conducted at SABIC Innovative Plastics will be provided as examples during the course.
Topics covered in the workshop include:
- LEAN Background
- The 5 Principles of LEAN
- Identifying Types of Waste
- Value Stream Mapping ⇑
- Visual Management and 5S
- Other LEAN Tools: Kitting, Water Spiders, Standard Work
- Laboratory LEAN Examples
- LEAN Action Workout in a Simulated Laboratory
Essentials of Laboratory Safety
1-Day Workshop: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $495 Instructor: Wayne Collins
This interactive, one-day workshop combines lecture, classroom discussion, team exercises, and videos to examine the three elements that are essential for laboratory safety: safe behaviors, safeguards, and hazard recognition. Case studies are used to illustrate each element and to raise personal awareness of the potential dangers present in nearly every laboratory. The workshop is designed for laboratory staff and managers to refocus attention on safe operations as the top priority and to generate discussion leading to a safer workplace.
Key topics include:
- Introduction to Lab Safety
- The OSHA 1910. Laboratory Standard
- Management Responsibilities
- Hazard Recognition Principles and Training Exercise
- Personal Protective Equipment and Other Safeguards
- Emergency Response Exercises ⇑
- Nitrogen Safety
- Ergonomic Safety
- Management of Change
- Case Studies of Lab Accidents
- Behavioral Based Safety Programs
- Group Discussion on Safety Issues and Practices
Leadership for the Twenty-first Century: What Is Your Style?
1-Day Workshop: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $495 Instructor: Alan Cabelly
No leadership style is inherently any more effective than any other. However, using your preferred style at all times, or using your style incorrectly, may well lead to poor results. The question becomes one of determining where you are most effective and where you need support. We’ll use an assessment tool, the DiSC®, to help you identify your personal style. The goal of DiSC® is to give you personal information that will help to ensure your improvement and success as a leader. Through videos, conversation, and interaction with others, you will develop an awareness of your personal leadership profile as you expand your leadership capabilities.
Specific activities and topics:
- Understand who you are as a leader
- Value the necessity for different leadership styles today
- Expand your personal leadership capabilities
- Develop confidence in your style and capabilities
- More effectively lead the innovative team of the future
- Become a better, more transformational, leader
- Complete a validated personal leadership profile, the DiSC® system.
With DiSC® you will:
- See how you influence others, how they view you, and how you might improve your personal power
- Grasp what you do under pressure and learn how to change some of those base instincts
- Identify the personal behaviors that are holding you back
- Identify your leadership style
- Understand what your personal leadership tendencies are, and access your untapped leadership potential
- Expand your leadership palette and learn what you need to do to become more effective
The price of the DiSC Assessment is included in the cost of the workshop. ⇑
Maximizing Efficiency and Effectiveness in the Global Analytical Laboratory
1½-Day Workshop: October 14–15, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $795 Instructors: Jan Damm and Alexander Debets
This interactive workshop aims to bridge gaps between analytical laboratories of multi-site companies, between QC and R&D labs, and between the laboratory and regulatory authorities. The workshop is oriented towards analytical lab managers who want to have a “first-time-right” start in handling company-wide harmonization of analytical methods, procedures and processes leading to time and cost savings. Key topics here are: harmonization of procedures for Method Development, Method Validation and Method Transfer. Other key topics are: regulatory compliance, application of modern concepts like Process Analytical Technology, Risk-Based Approach, Paperless Lab (regulated electronic archiving) and Efficient Procurement Processes for the Analytical Lab.
Upon completion of the workshop, you will be able to:
- Transfer analytical methods efficiently and effectively, also from R&D to QC labs.
- Handle the concepts of PAT and Quality by design
- Perform risk management and risk assessments
- Take home some challenging ideas about electronic data handling and purchasing processes ⇑
- Identify the key aspects of analytical method development and method description.
- Develop and describe methods in such a way that they are applicable in various analytical laboratories of your multi-site company.
- Develop and validate analytical methods first time right
The Analytical Laboratory in a Regulated Environment
1-Day Workshop: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $495 Instructor: Tony Montana
This workshop is designed for those who either perform laboratory work or manage a laboratory that requires compliance with regulatory or quality system requirements. The course provides a broad overview of quality, standards, and compliance regulations in the laboratory, as well as a review of the laboratory system components that support compliance with quality system regulations as well as science based laboratory management
Key topics include:
- Laboratory documentation, SOP’s, project planning, reporting, record keeping, and management.
- Change control requirements for the laboratory and control systems for implementing change.
- Specification setting and sampling plans.
- Control of laboratory and reference standards
- Overview of good laboratory practices for testing facility operations.
- Preparation and requirements for audits and laboratory inspections.
- Stability testing and product evaluations ⇑
- Similarities and differences between cGMP, GLP, TQM, ISO 9001:2000, and Six Sigma quality.
- Successfully managing a quality system within an analytical laboratory environment.
- Laboratory organization, personnel, and analyst training and certification requirements.
- Laboratory certification and accreditation (ISO 17025).
- Calibration, qualification, and maintenance of laboratory equipment. Review of facility requirements.
- Laboratory deviations, failure investigations, and compliance with OOS requirements.
- Test method development, system suitability, and method verification and validation.
Practical Management of the Modern Analytical Laboratory
1-Day Workshop: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $495 Instructor: Claude Lucchesi
The practical aspects of managing a laboratory will be presented, including ways to organize the lab and ways to evaluate performance. Focus will be on customer satisfaction. The guiding principle for a modern laboratory—indeed for any enterprise—is to add value to the customer. Successful laboratories have always appreciated this principle. However, only recently—perhaps because of reengineering and downsizing—have some managers begun to recognize that customer satisfaction is the ultimate measure of performance. Cost avoidance, high turn-around-time, and other measures may be short-term measures of success, but the only true measure of long-term success is customer satisfaction. Laboratory policies, practices, and procedures will be discussed to suggest improvements in the labs of workshop (WS) participants. This WS is for new managers and for current managers and supervisors who want a fresh look at ways to manage the laboratory.
Key topics:
- Evaluation of laboratory performance;
- Ways to avoid crises and handle complaints;
- Recognition and rewards;
- Manager’s leadership style.
- Networking with other lab managers
- Laboratory mission and functions;
- Alignment of the lab mission with the business
- Ways to organize/restructure;
- Laboratory design and work flow;
- Selection of costly instruments;
- Good laboratory operations;
You will learn how to communicate and listen, select and motivate staff, give performance reviews, buy instruments, objectively evaluate laboratory performance, manage change and plan for the future, and network with other laboratory managers. Suggestions on how to improve your laboratory when you return home will round out the workshop. ⇑
Talent Management in the Lab: How Do You Get the Most Out of Your Workers
1-Day Workshop: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $495 Instructor: Alan Cabelly
Effective talent is the key to organization success. As the line manager, your ability to succeed is predicated on your ability to manage your team and increase individual and team productivity. The goal of this session is to help the practicing manager improve his/her skills as a Talent Manager. We know that the appraisal process is one of the least well understood, least well liked of most manager’s tasks. Yet it is crucial; the skillful appraiser and coach can provide needed feedback, development, and motivation to key subordinates. The focus on this workshop is on you, the manager, as you attempt to increase the productivity of your workers both in and outside the lab.
Key topics include:
- Rater biases
- How to write an effective review
- How to give feedback effectively, either in an informal coaching session or the formal appraisal interview
- Performance Improvement
- Positive Discipline
- Is a 360 system for you? If so, how can you implement it?
- Managing the difficult employee
- Strategic performance management
- How to use performance management techniques to help your people succeed
- What can you do about your own performance appraisal discomfort?
- Performance planning processes that work
- Roadblocks to effective performance management, and resolving them
- Working with your subordinates to establish goals that lead to results
- Designing effective appraisal systems
This is a skill-building session, with elements of workshop, role-playing, individual coaching, writing plans, and feedback. ⇑
Influence Without Authority: So Logic Won’t Work…Now What Do You Do to Influence Difficult People?
½-Day Workshop: Wednesday Afternoon, October 15, 2008 Enrollment Fee: $295 Instructor: Mary Adams Viola
As a technical professional, you are trained and rewarded early in your career for solving problems using logic and scientific knowledge. Unfortunately these skills seldom help to get what you need from other people to do your job. These barriers can lead to tremendous frustration and lost time. Whether you are experiencing conflict with a difficult colleague boss, or are struggling to get cooperation from other departments, there are strategies and skills that you can learn to be more effective in achieving your goals. This workshop allows you to explore and experience proven strategies that you can immediately use back in the office.
The workshop involves the following elements which are designed to accelerate learning:
- “Support” where participants have the chance to gain feedback from their peers in the class in a safe way and then expand their learnings to the larger community.
- The “Action” phase (could also be called “Application”) where each participant looks at how and where the new learnings/skills can be effectively applied. ⇑
- “Mini-lecture” where the instructor introduces the concepts and best practices
- “Self-Assessment” where participants have a chance to evaluate where they are regarding the topic area.
- A “Challenge” where individual or group exercises expose participants to the subject matter in a practical, “real-world” manner.
Workshop Leaders
Dr. Alan Cabelly, SPHR, has been a Human Resource Management faculty member at Portland State University since 1980, and has served as Area Director for the Management/HRM Area since 1997. He teaches HRM at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels to diverse groups in the public and private sectors, nationally and internationally. In 1981, Prof. Cabelly founded the PSU Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)/Northwest Human Resource Management Association (NHRMA), which has won the Superior Merit Award for 23 consecutive years. In his spare time he runs marathons.
Dr. Wayne Collins managed the laboratories of Solvay Polymers in Deer Park, Texas for 24 years prior to joining Thermo Fisher Scientific as Laboratory Services Consultant in 2005. Experiences with Solvay in adopting and implementing quality principles as part of a change process have been chronicled in about 50 articles and presentations on laboratory management. Wayne served as the President of ALMA for the year 2000, is the current Editor of Managing the Modern Laboratory, is a member of the editorial board of Lab Manager Magazine and was the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Service Award for Laboratory Management sponsored by Agilent Technologies.
Dr. Jan Damm studied chemistry at the university of Leiden, The Netherlands. After finishing his Ph.D. thesis he joined the R&D organization of Organon in 1989. At Organon he held several positions and is currently senior director of Quality Systems. He chaired the global harmonization steering committee within Organon for the analytical Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control processes, and the international committee for Validation of Automated Laboratory Systems. He was a board member of the Dutch Association for Analytical Laboratory Managers and co-organizer of several bi-annual conferences of the European ALMA organization.
Dr. Alexander Debets has over 20 years experience in analytical chemistry, project management and lab management at N.V Organon. He held several positions as managing scientist within analytical development departments for drug substance and drug product, and chairman of the global harmonization steering committee for the analytical Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) processes within Organon. He participated in the Organon international Procurement Improvement team. He was general manager of Organon Development GmbH. Currently he is responsible for the Investigational Products Supply unit of the Schering-Plough facility in Oss.
Dr. Derek Lake joined SABIC Innovative Plastics in Mt Vernon, IN, in 2003 as an analytical chemist. Currently Derek is the quality leader for the Lexan* Process Technology Group. Derek has been involved with and led multiple LEAN laboratory improvement projects while at SABIC-IP. He obtained his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Delaware and a BS in chemistry from Lindenwood University.
Dr. Claude Lucchesi has had 14 years of industrial management experience with Shell, Sherwin-Williams and ExxonMobil Chemical Co. He is the founding editor of Managing the Modern Laboratory. He has been a contributing editor for Analytical Chemistry and originated the “The Analytical Approach” feature. Since 1968 he has been the Director of the Analytical Services Laboratory (ASL) at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. In 1995, he became an Emeritus Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and the Consulting Director for ASL. Dr. Lucchesi is a co-founder of ALMA and served as its first president. Recently, he taught a new ten-week course (Practical Laboratory Management) in Northwestern University’s School of Continuing Studies as part of a new Master’s Degree Program on Quality Assurance and Regulatory Science. Dr. Lucchesi has consulted for more than 40 companies and universities in the areas of technical problem-solving, strategic planning, and laboratory organization and evaluation.
Dr. Anthony J. Montana currently serves as Vice President of Scientific Operations with Garden State Nutritionals in Fairfield, NJ. He has over 30 years experience in the areas of Laboratory and Quality Systems Management within the Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Nutraceutical Industries. Dr. Montana is a past-President of ALMA and he has published and presented over 50 papers and workshops in the areas of Analytical Chemistry, Technical Management, and the Quality Process.
Dr. Mary Adams Viola is the Acting Director of the MSEM program at the Gordon Institute and a cofounder of the Tufts MSEM program in India. She teaches courses in leadership development, innovation, and new product development. Dr. Viola has more than 20 years of industrial experience in both R&D and manufacturing. Dr. Viola received her BS, MS and Ph.D.. from Tufts University.
Dr. David Zoller is Chemical Testing Leader for the Analytical Technology group at SABIC Innovative Plastics in Mt. Vernon, IN. David obtained his Six Sigma Black-Belt certification from General Electric in 2006. Over the past nine years with GE Plastics (now SABIC Innovative Plastics), he has served in a variety of roles in research and development. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware and his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Virginia Tech. ⇑
Contact Information
Please contact ALMA’s office regarding any questions about this Conference.
Association of Laboratory Managers2019 Galisteo Street, Building I-1
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Fax: 505.989.1073
Tel. 505.989.4683