Abbott Showcases ACCELERATOR a3600 Automated Track System at AACC 2013

Abbott is showcasing a variety of solutions at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) annual meeting and clinical lab expo, in Texas this week. The solutions have been designed to meet the needs of its lab customers while reducing costs and improving productivity.

"Clinical laboratories are looking for the right solutions to successfully address the complexities and opportunities presented by the changing healthcare environment," said Greg Ahlberg, divisional vice president, U.S. Commercial Operations, Diagnostics, Abbott. "Abbott has one of the broadest and most flexible portfolios available today to help labs drive efficiency and optimization, leading to improved patient care."

One of the solutions featured at the booth is the ACCELERATOR a3600, a laboratory automation track system. Launched globally in April 2013, the ACCELERATOR a3600 is a modular system designed to automate pre-analytical and post-analytical processing, sample-handling, and processing in the laboratory. The system consolidates multiple analytical instruments into a unified workstation by employing a common sample processing capability. Through communication connections among the automation system, analyzers, and the laboratory information system (LIS) or middleware, the automation software provides workload and sample-order management, as well as instrument operational status monitoring.

"As laboratories around the world face challenges due to staffing shortages, budget constraints, and increased demands, advances in automation technology such as Abbott's ACCELERATOR a3600 can help labs be more efficient and productive," said Brian Blaser, executive vice president, Diagnostics Products, Abbott. "Labs using automation can achieve more than 40 percent greater efficiency, helping them adapt to meet current and future demand, which is particularly important as approximately 70 percent of medical decisions are informed by diagnostic testing."

The ACCELERATOR a3600 can process up to 3,600 samples per hour and handle multiple tube sizes and types simultaneously. By automating routine, manual tasks, this system may help labs reduce error and improve efficiency. Another advantage of the system is a modular design that offers labs the ability to install up to 99 combined analyzers and modules on a single system, which means that labs can address their testing needs today while planning for the future.

Photo –SelectScience Editor Kerry Parker and Jay Leech at the Abbott exhibition booth, AACC 2013