The Engineering Lab Symposium is an annual event where Mirapath brings together end users and industry leaders to discuss the current trends, challenges, and best practices for engineering labs.
This year, our featured speaker is Dan Lunderville, Manager of Global Customer Labs at Palo Alto Networks. Dan has worked in customer support since 1997, running multiple labs at technology companies including Ascend, Redback, Juniper, Gigamon, and Palo Alto Networks. He has been working with automation for the last 7 years and has launched a global automation system in 5 locations servicing 250 engineers.
From Order to Chaos – The Automation Journey
Benefits of Automation
Lab automation is no longer a luxury that companies can afford to put off, but rather has become a necessity in today’s engineering labs. Some questions Dan answered included:
- How do you know you need Lab Automation?
- What benefits can be realized from automating your labs?
- How do you go from concept to realization?
Building ROI
Knowing you need automation and conveying this to management are two very different things. To be able to convince management of the need for automation requires you to quantify time, staffing, capital expense, and operational savings.
Project Plan
Once you are given the go-ahead, the process of planning this out from concept to launch requires proper planning and includes:
- Building an automation team
- Choosing an automation system
- Statement of Work and Proof of Concept
Implementation
Dan provided key points and considerations for a smooth implementation which include:
- Building an automation ready network
- Transitioning to automation
- Launch and training schedule
Metrics and Reporting
One of the biggest advantages to an automation system is the ability to pull metrics on equipment usage and user data. Ever been questioned by management on why you need more resources to run the lab? These metrics can give you hard numbers to prove it.
These are just some of the key takeaways from Dan’s presentation. To get the full version of his presentation, click below.
Pictures from the 2016 Engineering Lab Symposium:
Thank you to our Sponsors:
To learn more about the Engineering Lab Symposium, please email els@dev.mirapath.com or join our LinkedIn Group.
Connect with Dan Lunderville on LinkedIn.