By Lori Sichtermann

An Interview with George Kennedy, Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service for Specimen Preparation

George Kennedy

Leica Microsystems, headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany, manufactures optical microscope, histology instrumentation, and scientific instrument solutions. The company’s specimen-preparation products are used in a variety of applications preparing samples for vision, measurement, and analysis of microstructures. In a recent interview with Clinical Lab Products, George Kennedy, vice president of sales, marketing, and service for Leica’s specimen-preparation business area, shared his views on emerging trend of automation, its impact on histopathology, and how Leica addresses the needs of this market segment.

CLP: What trends have you noticed in the histopathology laboratory market?
George Kennedy: In the field of histopathology, a number of key trends have developed that challenge the laboratory and suppliers. There is a national shortage of trained histotechnologists, which makes it very difficult for hospitals to find qualified people to fill open positions. What’s more, many histotechnologists are retiring, and schools are not graduating enough histotechnologists to keep up with demand. These factors have created a major challenge in the industry. Despite this shortage, there is increased pressure from clinicians for faster turnaround time of pathology services for more rapid diagnoses. Lastly, most labs are experiencing an increase in the number of cases with a strong focus on small biopsies.

CLP: What is Leica Microsystems doing to address these challenges?
Kennedy: These trends point to the industry’s need for more automation in histology processes. Automated instruments perform time-consuming, labor-intensive tasks that allow the technical staff to accomplish other duties and facilitate faster diagnoses for clinicians and their patients. Naturally, these trends are the key focus for Leica’s research and development efforts.
Designing automated histology instruments that add value to our customers’ work lives is a complex undertaking because it generally changes laboratory work flow and reverses years of tradition. We have introduced many innovative automated histology systems to a market segment that has traditionally used manual instruments.

A healthy combination of art and science still is necessary to prepare a quality slide, and histology procedures are not easily automated. Therefore, Leica is focusing its research and development capabilities on designing automated solutions that allow technologists to have more time for valuable work, resulting in more standardization within the laboratory and faster turnaround.

CLP: How are Leica’s automated product solutions satisfying the histopathology market?
Kennedy: Leica Microsystems has been in the histology specimen-preparation business for 130 years, and it has a history of bringing innovation and high-quality products to the histology laboratory. For example, Leica was the first company to automate microtomy. Also, Leica was the first to introduce an integrated histology workstation for staining and coverslipping. Specifically, Leica’s new ST5020 multistainer and CV5030 glass coverslipper can operate as two independent instruments. We then developed a TS5025 transfer station that integrates or links both systems. This enables the systems to communicate with each other, and the stainer to pass racks of stained slides to the coverslipper—a hands-off process that does not require the user to intervene or wait for the coverclipping cycle to finish in order to manually load slide racks. The operator can walk away from the process, which is a time-saving and convenient benefit for any high-throughput lab.

CLP: How does Leica Microsystems provide value to the histopathology laboratory market?
Kennedy: Leica offers a full range of instrumentation for the histopathology lab that follows a specimen through the entire slide-preparation process. The line includes cassette and slide labelers, tissue processors, embedders, microtomes, cryostats, slide stainers, coverslippers, and consumables. Our solutions-oriented sales strategy translates into a very liberal instrument demonstration philosophy. Our customers like to see how instruments perform before they make a purchase, which is the best way for them to truly understand how our instruments will make their jobs better, faster, and safer.

Additionally, Leica has one of the largest direct service organizations in our industry. Once a product is sold, factory-trained service engineers are centrally managed and dispatched to repair and support our instruments. Leica’s Technical Assistance Center (TAC) was recently created to provide application and engineering support to our customers. Our goal is total satisfaction for our customer base; therefore, we offer a full range of service contracts and preventative maintenance agreements. We hope to be around another 130 years; and you don’t get to be in business this long unless you are providing long-term, tangible value to your customers.

CLP: What are some of the issues facing Leica Microsystems today, and how will you overcome them?
Kennedy: Histopathology is a niche market, and we see more and more players entering this small market, so it is a challenge to maintain and build market share. Building value into our products and offering consultative salespeople, educational opportunities, and excellent after-sale service—these are the things that truly differentiate Leica from other companies.

CLP: How do you present your products to the market?
Kennedy: A combination of direct sales executives and exclusive regional dealers call on customers in person. There is no substitute for on-site representation to provide customers with a chance to see and feel the instruments in their own hands. The touch, feel, look, and ergonomic design—these are all crucial in our approach to the customer.

Leica recently launched a new marketing campaign called “Designed with You in Mind,” which underpins all of our core competencies and the value we add to each individual user. Safety, ergonomics, accuracy, flexibility—enhancing our customers’ work and allowing them to achieve unique personal benefits—this is the message we convey through targeted direct mail and print advertising. Whether Leica is introducing a new instrument or offering special promotions, the individual user is the beginning and end of everything we do.

CLP: Where do you see the company in the next 5 years?
Kennedy: Automation, rapid diagnosis, safety, and ergonomics will continue to be important focuses for future product development, customer education, and marketing. We will continue to educate histotechnologists about the benefits of automation in the lab. This summer, Leica is offering the Leica Summer Seminar Series to talk to histotechnologists about these issues. We will present 10 NSH-certified seminars throughout the country that offer CEU credits. Topics include, “Create a Safer Laboratory Environment” and “The Evolution of Instrumentation for Improved User Safety.”

Leica has a full range of new products in various stages of development right now, and the future is extremely bright because these new products are clearly directed to the emerging trends that are important to our customers.

Lori Sichtermann is associate editor of Clinical Lab Products.

Leica has a full range of new products in various stages of development right now, and the future is extremely bright because these new products are clearly directed to the emerging trends that are important to our customers.