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Promega UK, the life sciences company, based on the University of Southampton Science Park in Hampshire, has announced the winners of this year’s Helix® Sustainability Awards.

The Promega Helix On-Site Stocking System is an automated, onsite RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) inventory management system used to support scientists in their laboratories. Helix tracks product use in real time, ensuring that customers have uninterrupted access to reagents and assays whilst also reducing emissions through precise consolidated restocking shipments.

The awards were given to recognise the organisations from across the public and private sectors in the UK who gained the most environmental benefit from using the Helix On-Site Stocking System. Calculations were made after considering the number of individual shipments saved as well as the associated packaging costs, including dry ice use.

The three winners are:

1. The University of Manchester (Gold)
2. The University of Edinburgh (Silver)
3. Newcastle University (Bronze)

By using Helix, the top five organisations saved over 1000 deliveries combined, reducing the need for dry ice as well as saving carbon emissions through transport.

“We are delighted that The University of Manchester has been awarded 1st place in the Promega UK’s Helix Sustainability Awards and even more delighted to have moved up from 3rd place last year,” said Paul Carter, Senior Procurement Officer at the University of Manchester.

Colin Miller, Procurement Manager of University of Edinburgh, said Helix supports his organisation’s goal of taking a net-positive approach to procurement to maximise the positive social, environmental and economic impacts gained through University purchases, and to minimise those that are negative.

“We are delighted to have won the Silver Promega UK Helix Award in 2019,” said Miller. “The University of Edinburgh is committed to environmental sustainability and really value our partnerships with key suppliers like Promega. It has been a pleasure to accept this award on behalf of the University. Once again it recognises the efforts put in by our locally based Procurement and Stores teams to reduce the environmental footprint in meeting the research needs of our life scientists.”

Helix cabinets, fridges and freezers are supplied free of charge by Promega to store products onsite. Researchers simply swipe a card, or use a phone app, to access what is needed for their work, even in the middle of the night. Each item has a ‘RFID’ tag on it for replenishment purposes to keep the system working efficiently.
“Convenience and sustainability are really important in today’s labs,” said Rob Holmes, Helix Channel Manager at Promega UK. “Helix cabinets, fridges and freezers offer our customers the opportunity to save time and money as well as helping the environment.”

more about the Promega Helix On-Site Stocking System

About Promega

Promega Corporation is a leader in providing innovative solutions and technical support to the life sciences industry. The company’s 4,000 products enable scientists worldwide to advance their knowledge in genomics, proteomics, cellular analysis, drug discovery and human identification. Founded in 1978, the company is headquartered in Madison, WI, USA with branches in 16 countries and over 50 global distributors.