An established, privately held provider of laboratory automation and measurement systems and aftermarket products, Hamilton is built on innovation and product development. The company participates in multiple end-markets, serving a wide range of customers. Established in 1953 and family owned, the company has more than 1,300 employees.

Hamilton consists of five businesses. Hamilton Robotics provides liquid handling and lab automation solutions. Hamilton Storage is supplier of temperature-controlled sample management systems. Hamilton Laboratory Products, the company’s founding business, supplies laboratory syringes, as well as other instrument accessories and consumables. The Process Analytics business provides process measurement solutions, while the company’s OEM Solutions unit supplies many of these products. Hamilton Medical provides ventilation systems for medical care.

“[F]or the most part, [R&D] is driven through the marketing side of the business, looking at what customers are asking for and where we see gaps in the market.”

Hamilton Robotics conducts both dedicated internal product development as well as product development via collaboration. Either way, R&D is market driven, according Debbie Bowers, vice president of Robotic Operations at Hamilton. “[F]or the most part, [R&D] is driven through the marketing side of the business, looking at what customers are asking for and where we see gaps in the market,” she said.

An example is Hamilton Robotics’ [MPE]2 device for automated positive pressure extraction and evaporation on a liquid handling workstation. “What we saw was that when customers wanted to do solid phase extraction, their preference was positive pressure, but the reality was that there weren’t automated solutions for positive-pressure extraction. Scientists were mostly using either centrifugation, or they were going with vacuum extraction, vacuum filtration,” Ms. Bowers explained. “There are some disadvantages of those two options in automating extraction protocols,” she said.

R&D is conducted at Hamilton’s facilities in Reno, Nevada, and Bonaduz, Switzerland. “For each of those locations, we have dedicated, focused areas with PhDs that are interacting with the market,” noted Ms.  Bowers. “This includes looking at where that market is going 3–5 years from now, and what technologies are going to advance that market 3–5 years from now. And we need to start working at them now so that when solutions are available in the future, those solutions are available on Hamilton automation.”

The sites, which have about the same number of R&D personnel, also develop products together, according to Ms. Bowers. “There are projects where Reno and Bonaduz are both involved, so that the combined solution is in fact a globally developed solution.” Where expertise can be shared between all of the Hamilton businesses, for example, in firmware and industrial design, it is.

“[W]hen we say, ‘now we’re going to develop this technology or this product or this enhancement,’ really, first and foremost, is that it’s seen as value added for the customer, and that it is truly innovative.”

Ms. Bowers told IBO that Hamilton’s R&D philosophy prioritizes innovation over cost. “[W]hen we say, ‘Now we’re going to develop this technology or this product or this enhancement,’ really, first and foremost, it’s seen as value added for the customer, and that it is truly innovative.”

Taking advantage of its manufacturing capabilities, the company can develop new products and sell them at market prices as economies of scale reduce cost. “Manufacturing is a core competency of ours, and we are very vertically integrated, so we’re constantly fine-tuning and trying to reduce the cost of the products we’re manufacturing, and then we pass that savings on to our customers,” said Ms. Bowers. She emphasized, “But we don’t view development with cost reduction in mind. We typically do development with innovation in mind.”

As a lab automation company, Hamilton Robotics collaborates closely with both end-users for customized solutions and with other vendors for the automation of their products. Collaborations address both platforms and applications, and involve joint R&D. “We have many collaborators in a number of industries,” noted Ms. Bowers. “We put together a project focus and then we start identifying teams on both sides to come up with an application or a platform, even one that’s dedicated to an application, that then enables them to talk about their science at either higher throughputs with more walkaway time, or with a robustness or a kit that’s been designed for automation from the beginning.”

With companies, Hamilton Robotics works to automate chemistries, as in the case of Zymo Research (see IBO 5/31/17) and New England Biolabs, and with instrument providers, as in the case of Illumina, to create automated workflows. According to Ms. Bowers, “We also consider collaborations where we are ideally suited to contribute towards a fully automated system solution, known as a standard solution.” An example is Illumina’s VeriSeq NIPT Microlab STAR, which automates sample preparation for Illumina’s NIPT NGS-based solution.“Illumina chose Hamilton because of our strong track record of success and our ability to globally support the solution,” she said.

Such collaborations also contribute to Hamilton’s own product development. “That does address some of the R&D because, from that R&D, if it’s the 3 or 4 custom pieces or parts; guess what, those custom pieces or parts become larger volume. They then become standard parts,” said Ms. Bowers. “It’s a novel idea, and it’s not like our partners want to go out and sell a tube carrier or a plate carrier or an incubator. They just want their applications to run,” she explained. “That’s the beauty of it: Hamilton is excellent at hardware and software. We’re excellent at precise liquid handling [and] at manipulation of labware, but our partners are experts on their respective protocols, and so if you put the two together, you marry the two sides.”

“We try to be as agnostic as we can be. In being that way, it allows us to see all kinds of scientific disciplines that some companies don’t have the opportunity to look at.”

R&D and marketing collaborations with other companies offer other benefits. Because Hamilton Robotics works with multiple chemistry companies, and it is not in the chemistry business, it benefits from exposure to multiple technologies. As Ms. Bowers said, “We try to be as agnostic as we can be. In being that way, it allows us to see all kinds of scientific disciplines that some companies don’t have the opportunity to look at.”

An example is Hamilton Robotics’ ELISA NIMBUS system for automating ELISA testing workflows, an open platform for use with most vendors’ ELISA kits. “I think that’s a huge value to the customer because then they have the ability to now work with whatever technology comes out as a better technology. Because, let’s face it, in science, it’s a constant discovery and there’s always going to be something better that comes out.”

Likewise, R&D collaborations also include working with customers on customized products. These solutions also contribute to development of Hamilton Robotics’ own products.  “As an example, we had a customer with a specific tube configuration. If the tube rotated, there was a risk that the barcode on the tube could move out of view of the automated barcode reader installed on our automation platforms,” explained Ms. Bowers. “To address the issue, we created a keyed tube insert so that the tube fit snugly in the carrier without rotating.”

“Initially we built a rapid prototype of this on one of our many 3D printers. Once the prototype was successfully confirmed, we built machined parts in small quantities. Then as demand grew, we moved production of this keyed tube insert onto our fully automated production floor to increase the production volume,” explained Ms. Bowers. “Ultimately, the market was so interested in this solution that we invested in making the product as an injection molded part,” she continued. “Designing a solution, ensuring it addresses the customer need, testing the market demand and then scaling the solution to address market demand is the foundation of our manufacturing efficiencies.”

Asked about changes in recent years to its R&D process, Ms. Bowers highlighted beta testing. “Hamilton has done a ton of product development and product launches, but it didn’t have a formal beta process. Now, when we’re going to market with full platforms, or even devices—we’ve done it with our plate sealer as well—we collect customer data and do enhancements, and then we launch the product,” she said. This involved learning to limit beta testing and focus on what data to collect. “That process has been a learning curve for the sales team as well as the product management team. And even R&D.”

Summing up Hamilton’s R&D approach, Ms. Bowers said, “[It is looking at] gaps in the market, customer requests, collaboration [and] research from our own internal team pitching us technologies. Then [we address] that technology towards a customer request, collaborative request or gap in the market that we see.”