Cansford Laboratories has made a significant investment in equipment at its in-house drug and alcohol testing laboratory in Cardiff, as part of its continuing development programme.

The investment has been made in a new Robotic Automatic Liquid Pipetting Handler (RALPH) machine which will help the lab work more efficiently by allowing operators to perform separate processes, simultaneously.

Cansford Laboratories has one existing RALPH instrument and by adding a second automated handler, referred to as ‘Raphine’ by the Cansford team, will improve productivity and increase capacity. The new instrument will also allow different volumes of chemicals or samples to be pipetted using robotics.

The automated process will reduce the requirement for lab staff to perform repetitive tasks and will also implement a systemic process by which all samples are analysed. By removing some of the human interaction with each sample analysed, there will be an improvement in reproducibility of analysis and in the accuracy of the results issued by the laboratory.

Cansford Laboratories performs hair and blood testing for a variety of clients, working primarily with family lawyers and social workers, helping to support custody and care cases. This heightens the need for test results to be as accurate as possible and so investment in this area is of particular importance.

James Nutt, laboratory manager at Cansford Laboratories, says, “We are investing in the latest technology to help keep us at the forefront of the testing industry by improving our processes. We have grown a reputation for being the go-to laboratory for reliability and for the fastest turnaround for testing in the UK. But at no point can this come at the cost of quality. This investment will allow us to maintain this level of service whilst enabling our hard-working technicians to make best use of their skill sets in the lab. We are continually innovating the processing of samples to make it as streamline as it can be, whilst maintaining the high quality standards we are required to uphold due to our commitment to industry regulations.”