2014

Wow. What a year it has been. 2014 was the most successful year in Ozgene’s history. Why? How? These are all very good questions so let me guide you through the year.

This year has been all about reducing timelines in order to deliver mice to our clients as fast as possible. We identified our minimum timeline that could be reached if there was no waste and everything worked the first time. We then set out to make it happen. We have already achieved over 30% improvement in our timelines in 2014, and we are not done yet!

Several long-term Ozgene clients, such as researchers from the NIH and the University of Oxford, have noted the improvements in the timelines and project progress. One client even thought that the completed vector notification had been sent to him by mistake, not believing that the milestone could have been reached in such a short time.

This was made possible through stabilising, standardising and improving our processes using the Lean Philosophy. Jishukens, intense 5-day workshops, were held bi-weekly focusing on each “value stream” in turn. This allowed us to remove the waste and focus on delivering the best timely service to our clients. I am very proud of the Ozgene team for all that they have achieved.

Another great achievement was the launch and implementation of our goGermline technology. This has been a major player in our ability to streamline projects. Not only has it reduced timelines, but it has also significantly reduced animal use by eliminating non-ES cell derived mice. If you ask me, goGermline is a win/win, not only for Ozgene, but also for animal welfare and researchers around the world. We are looking forward to making goGermline more widely available in the scientific community.

After all this success, how are we going to make 2015 even better? Well, we have a few things up our sleeve. Here is a bit of a preview.

2015

Starting the year off, I will be heading to the US East Coast in January-February to expand on Lean and to meet with past, present and future Ozgene clients. My schedule is in the works at the moment, so please let me know if you would like a visit!

One of our main goals in 2015 will be redefining Ozgene’s “True North”. This encompasses our long-term goals that will guide Ozgene through the years and generations to come. Every plan, development and action in 2015 will be steering Ozgene towards these goals for quality, lead-time, productivity, and most importantly, human development.

David Garvie, a specialist in Lean and Continuous Improvement, commented on the Ozgene Lean, “I love how you have drawn on many sources to create a marriage between learning styles, human behavior, tools and the PDCA cycle. Brilliant. In other words you have expanded Lean.”

In addition, we will be expanding some of the services that we offer. One of these areas is our Phenotyping service. Our Phenotyping team is currently working on defining a new range of services. It is our goal to provide our clients with more options; customised to their specific needs.

We will also be developing and testing some new technologies with CRISPR being one of these. While we have not yet embraced CRISPR due to the high-frequency of off-target events and intellectual property issues, we are currently testing the technology in-house. We will evaluate if, and how, CRISPR might improve the services we offer to our clients.

We are also working on some “blue sky” research that should be beneficial for veterinary, and in time, human applications. More on this to come…

2014 has been a great year and will be hard to beat! By continually utilising our Lean Philosophy, I have confidence that 2015 will be even better. Stay tuned and see how the year plays out.

– Frank, CEO –