Geotechnical Laboratory Query Management: Resolve Small Issues Without Another Meeting
A laboratory flags a question about one sample or one test. The issue may be small: a condition needs clarification, a sample seems unsuitable for the assigned test to it, or an instruction appears inconsistent with the available material. Geotechnical laboratory query management is how that question is raised, assigned, answered and recorded. Done badly, […]
How Many Status Emails Does Your Laboratory Answer? Real-Time Geotechnical Laboratory Status
A laboratory manager opens the inbox and sees the same question in several forms: Has this test started? When will it finish? Is the sample suitable? Have the test conditions been approved? Why is the result still outstanding? None of those questions is unreasonable. The problem is that, on many geotechnical site investigation (SI) programmes, […]
Who Approved These Results? Geotechnical Test Result Approval Without the Email Trail
A laboratory completes a test and sends the result to the project team. Someone reviews the file and replies: “Looks good.” Weeks or months later, the result is being used in interpretation or design and geotechnical test result approval suddenly matters: Who actually approved this result? Was “looks good” a technical comment or a formal […]
Geotechnical Sample Tracking: Has the Sample Arrived?
A sample leaves the vessel, drilling site or storage facility. A few days later, someone asks: “Has the sample arrived at the laboratory?” For geotechnical laboratories, this simple question is at the heart of effective geotechnical sample tracking. It sounds like a simple question. But answering it can mean several steps: checking a chain-of-custody form, […]
Meet for Decisions, Not Status: Improving Geotechnical Laboratory Management
Managing a complex site investigation programme requires clear visibility into samples, testing progress, approvals and outstanding actions. But there is a difference between a meeting used to make decisions and a meeting used simply to work out where things stand. On many geotechnical laboratory programmes, a significant part of the weekly meeting can be spent going […]