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Gavin Finn, CEO

For decades, laboratories have been planned using static, two-dimensional tools that implicitly assume change will be rare. In reality, modern labs change constantly. Instruments evolve, workflows shift, staffing models adjust, and new scientific priorities emerge. The problem is not that labs don’t change; it’s that changing them has traditionally been slow, costly, and disruptive. This friction has become a real constraint on scientific progress.

Leading organizations, including Eli Lilly, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, and Quest Diagnostics, are driving a shift from traditional project-based lab design toward continuous lab planning and optimization. By using digital 3D platforms such as the Kaon Lab Design Tool, they are transforming how labs are planned, adapted, and scaled, delivering measurable financial gains, reduced operational risk, and accelerated scientific progress.

Across enterprise R&D and diagnostics environments, continuous lab planning with the Kaon Lab Design Tool has consistently reduced reconfiguration timelines by 31–40 percent, cutting three to five weeks from a typical 10–12 week cycle. This acceleration has a meaningful downstream impact. When labs become operational weeks earlier, organizations avoid significant opportunity costs associated with delayed scientific work.

“In R&D settings, customers estimate that accelerating lab readiness translates into roughly $12–$16 million in additional revenue per project, based on established industry benchmarks for daily drug development value,” says Gavin Finn, CEO.

At the enterprise level, these benefits scale across entire project portfolios. Organizations report saving 400 to 1,200 planning days each year by reducing the plan-to-build cycle from weeks to days. Along with less rework, lower dependence on external services, and regained internal capacity, this speed delivers more than $1 million in annual operational value—without altering downstream engineering or construction processes. Teams prioritize practical outcomes: faster science, smoother workflows, and confidence that labs will be ready on time.

Cost efficiency is another major source of value. By validating layouts, workflows, and equipment decisions early, organizations avoid unnecessary costs. Kaon Lab Design Tool users report labor and vendor savings exceeding $300,000 per lab annually. Early visualization also prevents unneeded instrument purchases, saving over $250,000 per lab in some cases. Avoiding late-stage redesigns saves $160,000 to $400,000 per lab each year, while in-house 3D visualization replaces outsourced services, adding $80,000 to $150,000 in annual savings.

In R&D settings, customers estimate that accelerating lab readiness translates into roughly $12–$16 million in additional revenue per project, based on established industry benchmarks for daily drug development value.

Equally important is the impact on confidence and alignment. A shared, 3D visual planning environment reduces one of the most expensive failure modes in lab projects: misalignment between stakeholders. Scientists, operations teams, facilities, safety, and leadership all work from the same representation of space, workflows, and constraints.

Users describe a fundamental shift in how decisions are made. Teams that once waited weeks for updated drawings can now create, refine, and review plans within hours. Leadership approvals move faster because choices are clear and defensible. Expensive ordering errors are avoided by seeing how equipment fits in 3D. Most importantly, trust grows—scientists feel understood, and facilities teams show constraints are handled thoughtfully.

This highlights a critical insight: lab planning is not only a spatial or engineering challenge but also a human one. It is as much about people as it is about physical layouts. Every lab change impacts scientists, operations staff, and those responsible for results. When planning fails, it is rarely due to flawed geometry but to misalignment in how work is actually performed. That is why planning goes beyond space to focus on enabling people to do their best work.

By enabling collaborative scenario testing and immersive 3D visualization, continuous lab planning significantly minimizes downtime, maximizes space utilization, and accelerates the core mission of scientific organizations. As one global pharmaceutical company recently noted in its strategic business case, the goal is not simply to improve today’s labs, but to future-proof capital investments to ensure that the next generation of laboratories can evolve as fast as the science inside them.

Three-Dimensional Planning As a Strategic Lab Design Discipline

Laboratory environments no longer behave like static assets. Research priorities shift, instrumentation cycles shorten and teams reconfigure more frequently than capital plans anticipate. Yet many organizations still rely on flat drawings and linear planning methods that assume stability. That mismatch introduces delay, cost and friction at the exact moment speed and adaptability matter most. For executives responsible for lab investment decisions, the challenge is no longer how to design a lab once, but how to sustain design accuracy as change becomes routine. Modern lab design software addresses this gap by moving planning into a live, three-dimensional environment. The strongest platforms treat lab layouts as evolving systems rather than frozen deliverables. They allow decision-makers to see how equipment, workflows and people interact before commitments are made. This shift matters because most lab inefficiency does not originate in construction errors. It comes from the late discovery of spatial conflicts, workflow misalignment or stakeholder disagreement that should have been resolved earlier. A disciplined approach to 3D lab design emphasizes speed of iteration. When planning cycles compress from weeks to days, organizations recover time that would otherwise be lost to rework and coordination lag. Faster planning also changes behavior. Teams test more options, explore alternatives and validate assumptions instead of defending early decisions. That flexibility reduces downstream disruption and supports approvals. Cost control follows naturally when visibility improves. Early visualization exposes unnecessary equipment purchases, inefficient adjacencies and avoidable vendor dependency before budgets harden. Savings often appear in places that traditional planning overlooks, including reduced reliance on external drawing services and fewer late-stage layout revisions. These gains compound across portfolios, particularly in large R&D or diagnostic estates where similar planning work repeats. Alignment carries equal weight. Lab planning touches scientists, facilities, safety, operations and leadership, each with different priorities. Two-dimensional documents force interpretation, which invites misunderstanding. Shared 3D environments replace interpretation with clarity. Decisions become easier to justify because constraints and trade-offs are visible to everyone involved. That shared understanding reduces approval friction and lowers the risk of mistakes. Within this context, Lab Design Tool stands out as a premier choice for organizations adopting three-dimensional lab planning at scale. It focuses on continuous planning rather than one-off project delivery, enabling teams to update layouts as conditions change rather than restarting from scratch. Its environment allows users to build and modify lab spaces rapidly, supporting scenario testing without waiting for external redraws. The platform’s ability to shorten reconfiguration timelines has proven material in practice. Organizations using it have compressed planning cycles by several weeks, allowing labs to become functional sooner and reducing the opportunity costs tied to delayed research activity. Over time, these gains translate into recovered capacity across portfolios through consistent time savings. Lab Design Tool also supports cost discipline by validating decisions early. Users can confirm equipment fit, workflow feasibility and space utilization before orders are placed or construction begins. This reduces unnecessary spend on instruments, movers and late revisions that surface when plans are locked too early. In-house visualization further limits dependence on outsourced drafting services. Its most durable contribution is improved confidence. By giving stakeholders a common visual frame of reference, the tool reduces disagreement rooted in abstraction. Scientists see how work is supported, facilities teams demonstrate constraints transparently and leadership evaluates options based on shared evidence. Planning becomes collaborative rather than a handoff. For executives evaluating lab design software, the measure of quality is repeatability. Lab Design Tool delivers planning speed, clearer decisions and sustained adaptability, making it a strong recommendation for organizations that treat laboratories as living systems rather than fixed projects. ...Read more

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Lab Design Tool

Company
Lab Design Tool

Management
Gavin Finn, CEO

Description
Lab Design Tool is a powerful, easy-to-use platform that empowers lab teams to quickly design, visualize, and optimize laboratory spaces in real-time, using immersive 3D digital twins, improving efficiency, collaboration, and operational outcomes. It is recognized as a leader in digital transformation and lab operational excellence, helping labs streamline inefficiencies, reduce costs, foster seamless collaboration with stakeholders (Scientists, Facilities, CapEx, Ops, Architects, etc.), and accelerate time-to-science.

Lab Design Tool

Real-Time Lab Planning:The New R&D Imperative to Slash Costs and Unlock New Revenue

In R&D settings, customers estimate that accelerating lab readiness translates into roughly $12–$16 million in additional revenue per project, based on established industry benchmarks for daily drug development value.

Deep Dive

Three-Dimensional Planning As a Strategic Lab Design Discipline

Lab Design Tool