Supply Chain World - Volume 7, Issue 3 - 98

manufacturing brooks automation
www.brooks.com / Headquarters: Chelmsford, Mass. / Specialty: Automation solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing and life sciences industries / Donna Poole,
senior director of global logistics and trade compliance: "We've developed lean processes which allows us to take on more work without increasing our headcount."

Innovative Solutions
Brooks Automation's logistics team adopts lean practices and
tackles challenges resulting from new tariffs on China. By Kat Zeman
With the United States
imposing new tariffs on
Chinese imports, Donna
Poole and her logistics
team at Brooks Automation have been implementDONNA POOLE
ing new processes to comsenior director of
global logistics and
bat some of the challenges
trade compliance
that the tariffs pose on the
company's supplier relationships.
"We have major suppliers in
China," says Poole, Brooks Automation's senior director of global
logistics and trade compliance.
Her small team of five people
handles all transportation, distribution, warehouse and import/
import-export logistics solutions
for Brooks Automation, a global
leader in automation solutions for
the semiconductor manufacturing
and life sciences industries.
Based in Chelmsford, Mass., the
company has operations in North
America, Europe and Asia. It applies
its automation and cryogenics expertise to provide a full suite of sample management solutions across
life sciences to enable areas such as
drug development, clinical research
and advanced cell therapies.
In addition, Brooks Automation
recently added global capability
for genomic services to its life science portfolio through its strategic acquisition of South Plainfield,
N.J.-based GENEWIZ. Founded
in 1999, GENEWIZ services more
than 4,000 institutional customers worldwide and is supported
98

Supply Chain World VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3

by a global network of laboratories spanning the United States,
China, Japan, Germany and the
United Kingdom.
In order to combat challenges
associated with the new tariffs
on China, Poole and her team
have initiated a duty drawback
program, an export promotion
program intended to eliminate and
recover the costs of duties, taxes
and fees on merchandise sold on
international markets. It is one of
the few export incentive programs
acceptable under World Trade
Organization rules.
"It's a pretty intense program to
put together," Poole says. "There
are a lot of checks and balances
and you have to cross all your T's
and dot all your I's."
Brooks Automation submitted
its application in March and hopes
to be approved by December. As an
increasing number of companies

Brooks Automation added global
capability for genomic services to
its life science portfolio through
its strategic acquisition of South
Plainfield, N.J.-based GENEWIZ.

are applying for the program due
to the new tariffs, it takes an average of 9 months to be approved.

A Diverse Portfolio
Brooks Automation is known
for its diverse portfolio, which
has been growing at a fairly rapid
pace. Since 2011, the company has
undergone 15 acquisitions - 11 of
which were in the life sciences.
"With 15 acquisitions, we are
now in a lot of different countries,"
Poole says. "It's been a challenge
for a team of five people to manage
everything from setting up shipments to negotiating contracts
but we adapt really well. We can
accommodate the additional
workload by streamlining our
processes and we've developed
some lean processes which allows
us to take on more work without
increasing our headcount."
For example, when dealing with

Supply Chain World - Volume 7, Issue 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Supply Chain World - Volume 7, Issue 3