University of Cambridge

Johnsons Lab Logistics Scores Top Marks From The University Of Cambridge

The Situation

The University of Cambridge’s Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit is a leading International Research Institute within the School of Biological Science.

It delivers mechanistic toxicology research, pursuing hypothesis-driven toxicological questions with a particular focus on the study of the casual links between exposure to endogenous and exogenous toxicants, molecular initiating events and adverse outcome pathways.

Its overall aims are to carry out pioneering research which leads to improved health and to train and mentor the next generation of toxicologists.

Managers at the university recognised a need to relocate full departments which were previously based at Leicester University to four sites across the University of Cambridge campus.

Due to the nature of the departments’ work, the move involved highly-specialist items, for example:

• Small benchtop equipment including vortexes, handheld pipettes, and minifuges;
• General laboratory equipment including a large range of benchtop and free-standing equipment;
• Specialist laboratory equipment including high-value and sensitive and specialist equipment;
• Glassware and consumables.

Furthermore, chemicals needed identifying and preparing for transportation.

It was essential that the approved transportation company had substantial experience in moving a similar range of equipment and could provide references for evaluation.

The University of Cambridge appointed us for our previous experience with Procter & Gamble, Croda, The Pirbright Institute, and Eastman Chemicals.

The Solution

We allocated ADR-trained packers, porters, and drivers to the project – many of whom had been involved with our previous work for Nottingham Trent University and Procter & Gamble.

Clear communication is essential to the successful management of projects. With this in mind, we appointed a dedicated Project Manager who attended online pre-project meetings to:

• Identify objectives and key milestones;
• Define/confirm the programme timescale;
• Establish interfaces with key project team and staff and define responsibilities;
• Establish meeting structure, communications process, and project governance;
• Start a Risk & Issues Log;
• Provide a list of core staff, approved, and correctly trained to the project standards.

The Outcome

Our dedicated and experienced Project Manager worked seamlessly between client and teams to deliver a successful project within pre-agreed budgets and timescales.

Client Quote

A spokesperson from The University of Cambridge said:

“We immediately realised this would be a delicate project due to the extremely specialist nature of many of the items which we needed to relocate.”

“With this in mind, we had very clear expectations as to the partner we wanted to appoint for the work. We were extremely impressed by Johnsons Lab Logistics’ proposal, which illustrated previous experience on a range of similar projects.”

“From the very first meeting, to the last piece of kit being installed, the Johnsons Lab Logistics team demonstrated knowledge, experience, and professionalism and managed the project effortlessly and seamlessly.”