It was a mixture of adventurousness and start-up feeling. When the founders gave the starting signal for
"labor team w ag" (LTW) on 15 March 2001, it was not at all foreseeable what kind of success story would result from this step. For the first employees, it was also a courageous step to join a completely new private laboratory, but the commitment to help build up the young company was all the stronger.
A second important factor was the rapidly advancing digitalisation and automation, which the young laboratory used to its advantage. For example, the packaging line took over the former manual work, the scanner saved metres of filing in folders and simplified processes. At the end of the founding year, the team already consisted of 26 people, and just two years after the laboratory was founded, the number of orders broke the 100,000 mark – in the meantime, it is more than 1.2 million per year.
15 March 2001
Foundation of labor team w ag. The 26 red dots in the logo symbolise the first 26 employees, who were on board at the end of the founding year.
May 2001
Move into the premises in the Blumenegg Technology Park.
11 August 2001
The first samples (7 orders) arrive and are analysed. The Clinical Chemistry/Immunology, Haematology and Microbiology departments start operating.
November 2001
The Pathology/Histology/Cytology Department starts under the direction of Dr Günter Saile.
1 September 2002
Blessing in disguise: The Blumenegg site is flooded by the Goldach's flood of the century. Afterwards, the Goldach is tamed with structural measures. Our laboratory rooms were only on the mezzanine floor at the time and thus suffered no damage.
2003
Just two years after our founding, we manage more than 100,000 orders per year. Our team has grown to 40 employees.
2008
Expansion of the Pathology Department with new workstations for the Pathologists and Cytology Specialists on the ground floor of the second wing of the building. This creates more space for the increased space requirements of the laboratory.
April 2009
Mino Treuhand (St. Gallen) hands over the mandate and the employees of Mino Treuhand come directly under our roof. This means that the Administration/Finance department is no longer physically separated from the rest of the company.
February 2010
We double the area of our laboratory space.
2011
We introduce the "Online Request" (OR) system. The laboratory orders can thus be recorded electronically in the doctor's practice. In our laboratory, we can now import the personal data and requested tests into the laboratory software by a simple scan action. This leads to a massive reduction in the sample/order entry workload. Our annual order volume is now over 500,000 with 152 staff members.
Spring 2012
We are the first laboratory in Switzerland to offer the Non-Invasive Prenatal Test (NIPT), colloquially known as the "trisomy test", in collaboration with a German laboratory.
September 2012
The Department of Special Chemistry is opened and established by Dr Jürgen Kinkeldei. Using state-of-the-art equipment (HPLC, LCMS), the diagnostic possibilities are greatly expanded.
November 2013
Introduction of the new LX laboratory software: We are the only laboratory in Switzerland to work with our own development, which allows us maximum flexibility and speed for innovations.
June 2014
Dr Andreas Lindauer establishes the Molecular Biology/Genetics Department. This means that many analyses previously processed by external laboratories can be carried out directly at our premises.
April 2016
Dr Gerald Just introduces flow cytometry in the Haematology Department. This significantly speeds up the diagnosis of leukaemia, among other things.
2016
Expansion of the Executive Board, which now consists of Dr Martin Wyss, Dr Thomas Weibel, Ernst Rheiner, Magali Augsburger and Paul Stäger. Prof. Guido Funke will join them from August 2020.
2017
New milestone: We employ more than 300 people and create a good 900,000 orders per year.
2018
The day-care centre has developed into a successful model and is expanded to 36 places.
2 August 2018
After a long period of preparation, we can put the diesel emergency generator into operation. Operational disruptions due to power outages are now a thing of the past.
14 February 2020
Covid-19 pandemic impacts business: LTW is the first non-university medical laboratory to offer SARS-CoV-2 PCR as a routine analysis. Our laboratory performs up to 3,500 PCR tests per day. This results in a huge increase in staff and causes the order volume to skyrocket to over 1.2 million this year.
25 May 2021
Change of leadership: A team of industry experts – namely Dr Alain Cahen, Priv.-Doz. Dr Thomas Brinkmann and Raffaella Ettorre – takes over the company together with the investment company GENUI.
1 November 2022
labor team takes over the HämostaseThromboseZentrum Zürich (HTZZ) and strengthens its market presence at a central location in Zurich as a laboratory and clinically active organization. The acquisition creates a new leader in specialized haematology in Switzerland. The HTZZ is the leading center for the diagnosis and treatment of blood coagulation disorders with a special focus on high-risk pregnancies and women who wish to have children. More about the HTZZ at blutgerinnung.ch
May 2023
22 years after the foundation of our laboratory, we are launching a new company logo and changing the name to "labor team". We are now the fourth largest private medical laboratory in Switzerland – the personal connection and the family-like founding spirit have remained.
