20,000 samples a day without transport-related haemolysis
Samsung Medical Center replaced a competitor’s failed single-tube system with AirLab. The compressor and pipework stayed, only the send and receive stations were replaced. Since then, 20,000 samples a day have run without a single case of transport-related haemolysis.
transport-related haemolysis since go-live in 2023
samples transported in three years of operation
turnaround time (TAT) for urgent samples
A competitor system that could not handle the throughput or the samples
The blood collection unit, with 20 collection points in use at the same time, handles around 20,000 samples a day. The collection room is on the ground floor, the analytical lab two floors below – a route of around 100 metres, travelled thousands of times a day. Before automation, nursing staff carried up to 200 samples per trip in the lift: around 100 trips and 500 minutes of pure transport time a day. The competitor’s single-tube system bought in 2023 did not reach the required throughput, and its receiving station had no damping mechanism. The force of impact caused ongoing haemolysis and, with it, repeat blood draws.
The customer tested it themselves, then retrofitted instead of rebuilding
Instead of comparing manufacturers’ claims, the laboratory medicine team took around 1,000 real blood samples to the R&D centre of the South Korean technology partner and had them circulate in continuous operation for more than three hours. AirLab passed this stress test without a single haemolysis. No new system was installed afterwards: the compressor and pipework of the previous system stayed where they worked properly. Only the send and receive stations were replaced, three complete AirLab sets in total.
Three years without a haemolysis incident
After installation, isolated cases of haemolysis still occurred. A team of technicians stayed on site for a full week during normal hospital operation and found the cause not in AirLab but in tolerance deviations in the old pipework; the affected sections were replaced, and everything that still worked stayed in use. Since then: 21.9 million samples in three years, zero transport-related haemolysis, 20% shorter turnaround time for urgent samples – and 9,125 hours of staff time that no longer goes into carrying samples, but into work with patients.
From estimate to certainty.
We check your potential directly against your processes – solid figures instead of estimates.