Jabil announced the next step in its manufacturing and supply chain collaboration with ams OSRAM, with the development of a lateral flow testing platform. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the topic of testing to the forefront, validating the importance of reliable and robust lab-quality testing that can be conducted remotely and with fast turnaround times. With the role of testing only increasing in the future for infectious diseases beyond the current crisis, the teams at ams OSRAM and Jabil saw an opportunity to bring these lateral flow tests into the digital age, leveraging optics and connectivity technologies to simplify patient experience and deliver clear results in approximately 15 minutes.

When Jabil joined the project in the spring of 2020, supply chains were already constrained due to border closures, plant shutdowns and staffing reductions in logistics and manufacturing. Supply chain orchestration rapidly became a top priority, with Jabil's supply chain managers identifying the product's vital components and leveraging their supplier relationships to procure the necessary parts at both the required volumes and the most competitive prices. Together, ams OSRAM and Jabil designed the test's essential component — a complete printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), manufactured by Jabil, that leverages ams OSRAM's spectral sensing technology.

An LED illuminates the lateral flow test, and a highly sensitive spectral sensor reads the color of the line, providing an objective “positive” or “negative” result. The connection module sends that result via Bluetooth to a cloud-based smartphone app that clearly states the patient's COVID-19 status. The ambitious timeline for securing all required regulatory clearances and getting the device to market galvanized the teams' collaboration, clarifying what each brought to the table to beat the clock and get the job done.

ams OSRAM was able to rely upon Jabil's broad technical capabilities, particularly relating to diagnostics and optics technologies as well as Jabil's extensive healthcare manufacturing certifications. Also, with over 30 ISO 13485-certified medical device manufacturing sites located around the world, Jabil had the ability to support production across all time zones and in nearly every market. The success of ams OSRAM and Jabil's joint endeavor was about more than just successful manufacturing.

The two companies are just beginning to explore the potential applications for this device beyond COVID-19, from diabetes to veterinary testing.