Design considerations in high-throughput automation for biotechnology protocols

This paper examines automation design issues related to a simple Biotechnology protocol case study. The example chosen is the preparation of RNA from tissue-cultured cells. The starting point in automation design is to first set the process as a manual labor production line and identify processes that can be automated. The paper explores the vast range of possible solutions, some may be robotic-based, and optimality issues that arise when designing a flexibly automated high-throughput systems for a given family of Biotechnology protocols. The paper examines the potential application of Group Technology to Biotechnology applications. It also explores a specific Industrial Engineering program called Arena as a potential computer-aided tool to address the problem of optimal automation design considering cost, foot print and throughput constraints.