- How streamlining processes saved the IRRI breeding lab nine days and $15,000 a year
Los Baños, Philippines (11 September 2024): To ensure a steady supply of nutritious, climate-resilient, and user-preferred crop varieties for smallholder farmers worldwide, CGIAR breeding teams must continuously enhance data accuracy, streamline processes, and achieve higher rates of genetic gains. While improving breeding processes is crucial for delivering these crop varieties, optimizing supporting operations is equally important for enhancing the overall system.
In the Philippines, the Genotyping Services Laboratory (GSL) and Grain Quality Nutrition Services Lab (GQNSL) of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) provides essential services to breeders. Together, these labs form IRRI’s Service Laboratories (ISL), which have been continuously optimizing their processes in recent years. They have found that even minor adjustments in work habits can have a tremendous impact.
In 2019, IRRI Service Laboratories (ISL), accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 standards, began adopting a continuous improvement approach and implementing a quality management system. Maria Reveche, Associate Manager at GSL, is involved in process improvement and supports lab teams in identifying bottlenecks that impede their efficiency. This work is also aided by the Business Process Management (BPM) of the Breeding Resources Initiative, which specializes in optimizing CGIAR crop breeding activities.
Over the past year, Reveche and her team have focused on improving the genotyping-related steps of the breeder varietal development process, applying the Lean problem-solving methodology in which they were trained.
Breeders’ varietal development process path. Credit: IRRI.
“Breeders rely on genotype data to make selections and perform crossings. Before that, a purity test of the parents is crucial to ensure that the seeds are true to type. If they are not and are mixtures instead, then the child plant may not be the expected product the breeders want,” Reveche explains.
The entire process, known as hybridization, includes seven stages, which the team mapped out with a SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers) diagram, a visual tool for documenting a business process from beginning to end prior to implementation. The BPM and Reveche’s team described each stage and assigned specific timeframes to them. For example, leaf sampling should take up to five days, and genotyping,10 days. In total, the hybridization process including genotype data return was estimated to take 25 days.
“We reviewed the entire process to identify opportunities for time savings,” Reveche said. “By mapping out the process, we identified non-negotiable steps and areas for improvement. Although shipping times remained unchanged, we discovered that the time spent with our service provider for purity tests could be reduced. Additionally, sampling the plant a week earlier than the usual 21 days and using smaller leaf punchers for sampling directly into tubes helped decrease the sample processing time from five days to two days. We also identified tasks, such as submitting requests and sample lists, that researchers can complete in advance, effectively removing them from the overall process time.”
The process now takes just 16 days, saving an impressive 9 days in the hybridization process at the IRRI HQ breeding hub.
This time savings allows genotype data to be delivered more quickly, enabling breeders to confidently select only the most promising plants. This, in turn, results in cost savings, as not all planted specimens are required for the experiment.
“With faster data availability, breeders can make more informed decisions, reducing the need to utilize all planted materials. This not only conserves resources but also increases the lab's capacity, allowing it to achieve more with the same resources and staff time. Ultimately, this accelerates the delivery of new seed varieties, benefiting end-users such as farmers, SMEs, and seed companies,” Reveche explained.”
At ISL, another success story underscores the impact of process improvement. Jennine Lapis, a Lab Specialist at ISL, oversees grain quality evaluation and chemical testing for rice breeders. Just a few months ago, samples for grain quality evaluation were scattered across the 270-square-meter facility, with no standardized treatment process in place. Completed samples were kept in the lab longer than necessary, and labeling practices were not optimal. Up to ten staff work simultaneously in the lab to process samples.
“We were constantly searching for the right sample to process,” Lapis explains. “Imagine having to locate one submission across the entire lab—it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. This was time-consuming and disruptive for the entire team. When one person searches everywhere, others end up getting involved to help, wasting even more time.”
The team came together to address these issues, using spaghetti diagrams to map staff movements in the lab. They identified several improvements, including centralizing sample storage in a single room, improving labeling, implementing regular lab clean-ups and organizing samples into four different statuses. The results, assessed after a few weeks, were remarkable.
“We estimate that with the new organization, including staff assigned to move samples between stages and a dedicated storage room, finding a sample now takes between thirty seconds and one minute—a 95% reduction in processing time. This improvement, multiplied by the work of 10 staff members, allows us to process an additional 3,000 samples annually, resulting in a $15,000 increase in revenue.”
Spaghetti diagrams used by the team to track the staff’s paths searching for samples across the lab. Situation before improvement. Credit: IRRI.
“This project demonstrates how even small changes can have a significant impact. We are now focusing on optimizing our procurement process to ensure that chemicals for samples are ordered promptly—neither too early nor too late. This adjustment will help avoid overspending and prevent delays in sample processing. We are confident that these Lean efforts, implemented in collaboration with the Breeding Resources BPM unit, will lead to even greater time, effort, and cost savings.”
By scrutinizing processes and adopting innovations that have revolutionized breeding in the private sector with the help of BPM, IRRI, and CGIAR are turning breeding into a highly efficient, data-driven enterprise.
Resources:
- Learn more about Business Process Management and order their services
- Business Process Management Webinar: Breeding and Research Services Build a Quality Culture