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This notification is to make you aware of our plan to support Instrumentation Laboratory (IL) products in the event of a pandemic or natural disaster, specifically our response to this year’s H1N1 flu virus. Instrumentation Laboratory is sensitive to the fact that an interruption of service or product delivery may have an adverse effect on our customers. We have a global cross-functional team that has prepared a pandemic plan for our core business areas such as production, logistics, technical service, field service and customer support. 

Following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), we have reviewed our internal procedures and policies to mitigate any impact to our customers. As per the Business Pandemic Planning Checklist from the CDC (www.cdc.gov), and the Business Continuity Planning referred by the ECDC (www.ecdc.europa.eu), all aspects of the business have been evaluated. In addition, we actively monitor the recommendations of national and global health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and guidelines from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA, Japan) for the Pacific Rim. 

To this end, we are expanding our response to such emergencies as warranted in a global market by taking the steps below:

  1. IL ensures delivery of our raw material from suppliers through two methods:
    1. Levels of consignments located in each manufacturing site are equivalent to 3 months of material.
    2. Kanban levels: on reserve we ask our suppliers to commit to 3 months total inventory. Two months at the supplier and one month in IL inventory.
  2. IL requires that our critical suppliers all have a disaster recovery plan in place.
  3. IL has at least one month of finished goods inventory in stock, and analyzes appropriate increases in inventory to meet the needs of the customer should demand increase.
  4. IL maintains six months of Hemostasis reagents. Presently, Critical Care and specific reagents are stocked per shelf life limitations. We are especially sensitive to the levels of expendables and reagents in the distribution network. IL continuously monitors inventory to safety stock levels.
  5. If required, IL has the capability of utilizing multiple manufacturing sites in Europe and the US for reagents.
  6. IL has distribution points in the US, Europe and the Pacific Rim, in addition to Dealer inventory to ensure a continuous supply of reagents or expendables.
  7. IL has excess capacity in each manufacturing location and production could be ramped up quickly if required. i.e. using overtime, split or second shift, etc.
  8. IL has a high level of cross training across product lines; therefore we have a flexible and well trained workforce. This enables us to be able to rapidly reallocate resources as needed.
  9. We have the option for non-manufacturing workers (engineering, customer support, finance and QA) to work remotely, should the situation warrant. Our operating system (SAP) and the network is accessible through the internet with the appropriate access controls.

To ensure our Customer Service support:

  1. IL Service is prepared to maintain worldwide Service and Support to our products through our network of Affiliates, Distributors and Dealers. This will be accomplished through redundancies in both our labor force and parts supply chain.
  2. Each Service group has multiple individuals trained on each of the products. In case of illness to one individual, others can step in to service the product. As a result, the labor force will not be compromised and can maintain support.
  3. Service parts are maintained in multiple locations throughout the world including Distribution Centers in Bedford, MA., Orangeburg, NY, and Cavenago, Italy as well as Japan and the Pacific Rim. In addition, the individual Affiliates maintain a quantity of service parts, located in both their home offices and in the personal possession of their Field Service Representatives.
  4. In total; the Affiliate Service Managers have been instructed to maintain a local inventory level equal to 2 months of the Service and Support needs.

We feel that the steps we have implemented above, and our internal programs, will sufficiently mitigate any risk of interrupted product delivery or support to our customers.

Please feel free to call if you have any additional questions at 781-861-4184.