Who moved my microcentrifuge tube? (and my PCR tubes)

Many of you will have read the famous best-seller “Who moved my cheese”. For those who have not, the synopsis is simple; mice that were used to feed from a large reserve of cheese started seeing what’s left go down. Some wondered what to do while not changing their habits. However others decided to look for another source,  which in the end led them to an even bigger quantity, but somewhere else. Sorry for spoiling the end!

This story is about change. Why change is good and what happens to the one who adapts compared to the ones that simply suffer through it. Please excuse this quite long introduction that I am using to explain why Simport changed its microcentrifuge tube packaging.

First, our unit of sale was the case of 5000, made of 10 bags of 500. It is normal for a manufacturer, to sell large quantities to distributors that then can break open the large packaging and sell in smaller quantities to their customer. However, the world is changing. Many of our customers, wanting to become more agile, are placing “drop-ship” orders where the product is delivered directly to the end users. Marketplace type companies also obviously feed this trend. So we have decided to change our unit of sale from cases of 5000 to bags of 500.

Then, the packaging that was designed yesterday can always be made better today. Tubes, while not sterile, are RNase/DNase free. To maintain these properties with a bag that sits flat on the bench is a challenge, as one always runs the risk of tubes spilling on the bench, which will immediately ruin this essential characteristic. We consequently decided to package our microtubes in stand up bags. This format eliminates the danger of spill. Moreover it will allow for maintaining the tube features, especially when used in a laminar flow safety cabinet where only filtered air moving vertically downward can enter the bag while open when fetching for a tube.

Change is complicated. It can even be painful! I’ll skip all the gory details only to summarize what this change meant for Simport; two major changes one after the other, changing and validating our manufacturing SOPs and retraining operators, shopping and identifying the proper bag, inventory switchover issues etc. Despite all of these hurdles, it felt like the right thing to do, especially if one keeps in mind that our first and foremost goal is the serve our customers properly. And the customer here is the end-user, the researcher in the lab using our products.

That change has now been completed! Our products are now offered in stand up bags of 500 units. For all of you who were puzzled by this change that we indeed forced on to you, we apologize, and we invite you to test it for yourself. You will discover why our excellent microcentrifuge tube offering is now much better served by this new and improved packaging. And for those who wonder why our microtubes are so great, I will invite you to read another blog article titled  Tell me, do your microcentrifuge tubes pop open when boiled?