Our staff is your staff with FTE

Have dedicated staff at our site poised to perform your testing whenever you need them when you choose the FTE service model.

by Nathan Whitford, Site Director, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Portage

Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Programs have proven to be an excellent flexible service model for management of projects and programs within Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories. When and why to evaluate an FTE team is a question that I often field from our clients.

These programs need collaborative involvement from both the client and Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories to be successful. Building the right FTE team to meet individual customer needs is obviously critical to the process as well.

While each program begins differently, we have often found that successful programs start with the Fee for Service model of work and transition into FTE through growth and increasing demand on the project team. With these programs, a group leader or technical leader is already familiar with the workflow and client needs and can transition into the FTE Team Leader role toward building a dedicated staff with expertise on the program for future success.

The FTE programs often spark interest due to higher program needs with shorter and shorter project turnaround time requirements. When inquiring about a client’s due date for a new project, the most frequent response I receive is that it needs to be done as soon as possible. Due to project based backlogs, timing becomes a critical factor in the overall success of a new program coming in.

The FTE model essentially allows for a fast pass beyond the typical backlog of work since there is a dedicated team set aside to perform work for client projects only. Clients that have a mix of method development, validation, registration stability, Phase II/III submissions as well as routine release, and stability studies can take advantage of this model when project work can be forecasted in the future. This forecasted work helps to assign the right number of scientists on a staff to build the team to meet each client’s individual needs.

Whether a team of four or a team of 80, having that dedicated Team Leader and dedicated staff allows for us to understand client expectations to consistently deliver the quality results expected. The team can also build LEAN processes into the workflow through their knowledge of the individual assays and dedication to lab space used for the program work.

Most importantly, the client can drive the prioritization of the project work without facing backlogs from other client work so that overall timelines can be met within their company goals. Outside of the technical and quality aspects provided by these FTE models, they also add advantages of eliminating rush fees, investigation fees, and simply the budgeting process for work to be performed.

While the FTE program will not work for every client, the implementation of these programs has been extremely successful to meet a variety of our clients’ needs. These programs often lead to long lasting partnerships and successful programs for many years.