The Data is In: Xpress Technology Drives Staggering Improvements in Hospital Pneumatic Tube System Efficiency

Many pneumatic tube systems have remained virtually untouched for years. Most, if properly maintained, have continued to work flawlessly, delivering medications and sensitive materials throughout these areas of the hospital:

• Labs. 30% or more of materials transport occurs at the hospital labs. 
• Pharmacy. Hospital pharmacies are key to ensuring timely delivery of medications.
• Emergency Department. Rapid access to blood, medications, and other supplies is critical.
• General hospital operations. The many departments of the hospitals require rapid transport of specimens, as well as other materials and medications for patients. 

As reliable as pneumatic tube systems are, like other workhorse technologies, they are ripe for innovation. And a new generation of pneumatic tube systems is being introduced by Translogic that are dramatically changing the dynamics of transport in ways that are saving time and resources. 

Over the past three decades, TransLogic has defined industry standards in pneumatic tube systems for hospitals. As healthcare facilities have evolved, so have the demands placed on internal transport infrastructure—particularly in high-traffic areas like labs, pharmacies, and EDs, where delays can impact patient care.

Feedback from hospital leadership highlighted several recurring challenges: 

• Congestion during peak usage 
• Slower delivery times for critical items
• Limited scalability of legacy systems
• Carrier management
• Space limitations 

These operational constraints exposed the need for a more responsive and efficient transport solution.

As a response to this growing need, TransLogic engineers developed Xpress®, a new generation of pneumatic tube technology designed specifically to address these issues. 

Xpress® incorporates advancements in routing logic, carrier speed, and system throughput to support the dynamic needs of modern hospitals. The system is optimized for high-volume environments, enabling faster and more reliable transport of materials such as lab specimens, medications, and blood products. 

Xpress was designed to accomplish several critical goals:

• Transfer more materials to more departments faster.
• Optimize delivery accuracy.
• Reduce the time valuable staff spend managing the system.
• Help boost the efficiency of all departments.
• Enable more patients to be served more quickly.
• Save space
• Allow for hospitals to consolidate and/or centralize pharmacy and lab operations

Real world results: Xpress delivers an 80% decrease in wait time and a 40% decrease in elapsed transaction time. Here’s how:

• Advanced queuing and staging technology delivers unparalleled high-speed transmission. 
• A high capacity multi-linear transfer unit (MTU) connects multiple segments to Xpress stations enabling simultaneous transport of up to six carriers from a single station at once. (A hospital recently reported a decrease in wait time from 19 seconds down to 3 seconds and from 4 stations to 2.)
• RFID tracking technology ensures delivery accuracy and a chain of custody record.
• The system is designed to remove any limits on distance. (A recent installation served a remote lab a mile away.)
• The architecture is designed to enable the system to overlay on an older tube system.

• High traffic areas. Sends multiple carriers to move back and forth from more areas faster.
• Limited space. Exchanges multiple stations for a single station saving space and congestion around stations.
• Coverage over a long distance. Large campuses or hospitals with remote labs can connect with a single system. 
• Plans for restructuring and/or growth. Flexibility of the system supports hospital reconfigurations and expansion.

• Conservation of resources. Saves time and money by freeing up staff to focus on patient care.

   

Before and after results of 5 hospitals clearly illustrate the value of Xpress:

Three performance values were tested across the five hospitals. The results were as follows: 

These improvements are substantial. And the potential impact on clinical team productivity is clear. With such dramatic results, the gains to hospital operations as well as staffing stand to support both immediate and long-term efficiency goals.

All hospitals planning for growth need to include the latest pneumatic tube systems in their plans.

Growing hospitals are putting pressure on developers to provide technologies that go further than simple incremental improvements. Translogic developers have met the demand by spending months gathering input from hospitals as to how they can optimize the transport of sensitive materials faster, and with less manual interactions. The challenges of older systems: throughput inefficiency, long wait times, geographic limitations.

Now a new generation of pneumatic tube systems is helping hospitals save time and deliver sensitive materials faster and more safely. This is a game changer in an industry that is increasingly embracing technology solutions to help meet the dramatic changes and demands of a growing and changing patient population.