Lorne training videos launched at Medica

Having spent many years delivering training courses of one sort or another, it was a pleasure to present another new training course to a number of distributors, NGOs and end users who were attending Medica 2012. (That’s Jim Woods in the photo, the Sales Director of our Irish Distributor, Langanbach, with Lorne’s Technical Director Eddy Velthuis – and me)

I’m not sure how comfortable I would have felt had our products not enjoyed a reputation for quality. It cannot be easy manning a stand when the product on offer is sub-standard, never mind standing in front of those at the sharp end in a training scenario. Fortunately, there is sufficient good will towards Lorne and fronting a presentation at a trade show can be positively pleasurable under such circumstances.

The main focus of the presentation – as it would be for any company – is the brand proposition. Lorne has a simple brand proposition. It produces high quality, stable wet reagents, backed by great customer service and sold at competitive prices. From a marketing perspective, this is an easy sell to those who already buy from us. They already know.

But perhaps the most pleasurable offering of the day was the launch of the new training videos. Lorne has produced videos demonstrating how their reagents can be used. For anyone involved in the practicalities of blood grouping, these videos are an essential guide to utilising wet reagents using the various techniques available. The tube technique, the slide technique, the microtitre technique and the gel card techniques are all covered in glorious technicolour. And they come with a simple commentary to guide the user. Those who have watched them, liked them. I hope you will like them too. The videos are available very soon on the Lorne website.

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Medica is calling!

For a company such as Lorne, this time of year means one thing. In one week’s time, the World’s largest medical-related exhibition takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany, and we will be there. This year, we are sending seven of the Lorne team to meet with distributors, export customers and suppliers. Amongst other things, we will be looking to appoint a distributor for Germany.

For any UK readers who may be familiar with BBTS, start thinking on a vastly different scale. There are more than 4500 exhibitors spread out across 17 huge exhibition halls. The site is enormous, and unlike the Great Wall of China which cannot in fact be seen from space, I am pretty sure that you could probably see the Messe Dusseldorf from way up yonder.

Lorne will be at Medica in its capacity as a manufacturer of high quality diagnostic reagents and can be found in Hall 1, Stand F13. As well as meeting our current distributors throughout the exhibition, we will also be busy on Thursday morning, offering our new training presentation about Lorne and its products. Who knows, we may even be visited by another UK Government Minister – just like Lord Stephen Green – who visited our stand last year (see photo).
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Object of the Week

2012 is National Pathology Year. I have got to confess that this has not been high on my radar this year. It may well have passed the notice of many others too. Throughout the year, The Royal College of Pathologists have been publishing an ‘object of the week’ – something which has some connection to, and made a difference in,  the world of Pathology.

Some of the objects have been fairly central to the work of pathologists. Some others have been a little more subtle. Recently, one of the objects was a pigeon. Pigeons have played their part in evolutionary science – Darwin used them in his studies - and this was deemed worthy of celebration by the College. I would find it hard to disagree with that – Darwin is always worthy of celebration and I am always thrilled when I see his face on UK banknotes.

It did get me thinking though. What would Lorne choose if it was to celebrate the work of transfusion and other blood related sciences in this manner? What would be a suitable object with which to honour those who have worked in this field? What could represent the work of Blundell, Landsteiner, Levine and Stetson?

And what would Lorne choose to represent its own contribution, in bringing high quality, stable wet reagents to blood transfusion services and hospitals across the world? I’m not sure just yet. Perhaps that is for others to decide. Maybe a phone might represent our commitment to communicating with our customers – in delivering great customer service. Perhaps something out there could represent the competitive pricing of our reagents and kits. Or perhaps, quite simply, one of our bone china mugs – for many years a feature of our attendance at exhibitions – could adequately represent the long service that Lorne has provided to the world of diagnostic reagents?

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A Successful Scotblood

It was a real pleasure to attend Scotblood 2012. Stirling University played host to the conference and the weather was better than most had hoped. I managed to speak to so many advocates of the Lorne brand and hopefully some future customers too.

I managed to have a chat with some of the speakers at this year’s conference too. I was particularly impressed to meet Carol Mitchell, who works for the Canadian Blood Service and had come over to speak about her specialism, youth recruitment for blood donation. She added an international flavour to what is a regional affair, although I did chat to a number of other delegates from outside of Scotland, including some from my native Belfast and one or two from south of the borders (Ireland & England).

It was also great to hear from so many delegates about their satisfaction with Lorne products. Lorne prides itself on producing high quality stable wet reagents, with a long shelf life and all at a competitive price. It was wonderful to hear how many of the delegates trust our blood group reagents and kits, and choose Lorne rather than other manufacturers of diagnostic test kits and reagents. That’s what makes attending these exhibitions and conferences such a pleasure: lots of compliments for us with the complaints reserved for some of our competitors.

Next stop is BBTS in Harrogate at the end of September. We look forward to seeing you there.

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