The Open Lab Solutions of today is the result of a natural progressive expansion that has occurred over the past 8 years since our founder set out with a vision to change the fundamental way that operations, processes, procedures, and systems throughout the Healthcare Industry are viewed. We believe that accurate, dependable, and quality patient care should be the core value throughout the Industry, and ultimately we are working to bring about considerable and substantive change that enables better patient care for all.
Dennis Loudermilk is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Open Lab Solutions, Inc. Mr. Loudermilk is a power engineer and built his previous company to services the Powerline Industry, and in 2015, he sold that company to a Fortune 500 Competitor and began looking for new investment opportunities. After being introduced to the Healthcare Industry through some early investment opportunities, Mr. Loudermilk founded the predecessor to OLS in 2018. What is now known as Wellness Health Group was founded to meet the challenges he saw within the overall industry, and it laid the groundwork for what would become the foundation of a bold vision that was being planned for this new company... Better patient care.
As Engineer, Mr. Loudermilk brings a unique outside perspective, and when searching for investment opportunities, it was that insight that allowed him to see some of the underlying problems within the Healthcare Industry. The systems used in the Industry today are primarily governed by ideas, policies, procedures, and systems that have been in place, unchanged for decades. Some of those outdated, engrained practices have contributed to a systemic, industry-wide breakdown that causes delays in treatment, misdiagnosis, and other factors which are leading to a decline in the overall quality of care patients ultimately receive.
The defining events that ultimately led to the Open Lab Solutions of today stemmed from the CoViD-19 Pandemic of 2020. Leading up to this time, Mr. Loudermilk had focused the company on two primary growth strategies: growing the medical diagnostic laboratory division and building out a software and hardware development division. As the uncertainty around the CoViD-19 Pandemic continued to grow, it became evident that there was a need for new aligned products, services, and solutions throughout the Healthcare Industry. To maintain the continued growth of the Company, a new strategy was required that would be the building blocks for the vision that would drive us into new and emerging markets.
The first of these new requirements was directly driven by the CoViD-19 Pandemic. When Mr. Loudermilk founded the predecessor to Open Lab Solutions, it was the first diagnostic laboratory in the State of Oklahoma to employ molecular testing using PCR technology. This put the Company in a good position during the initial ramp-up of samples testing for CoViD-19; however, it quickly became evident that in order to keep up with that demand, a faster method was needed to assemble and mass-produce the testing medium that was used in PCR testing. To accomplish this mass-production, the Company invested in early stage robotics which vitally increased the speed, quantity, and quality of the required testing kits.
The Company was able to utilize this new process to mass-produce the molecular testing kits in a large enough quantity, with the required accuracy, that other diagnostic laboratories asked the Company to start providing them with the same kits. Within a short-amount-of-time the Company began shipping testing kits to labs across the country, and that is when Open Lab Solutions came to life.
What began as a single product line quickly expanded to offering molecular testing kits that included Proprietary Testing Panels for Ear, Nose, and Throat infections; Gastrointestinal pathogens; Nail fungal and bacterial infections, Sexually Transmitted infections; Upper Respiratory viral, bacterial, and fungal infections; Urinary Tract infections; Wound infection pathogens; and panels geared towards Women's and Men's health. Additionally, Open Lab Solutions started offering additional products through a program to help provide cost savings measures to its lab customers and its bottom line by buying consumables, products, and supplies in larger volume which were then resold as a third-party distributor.
In additional to these new offerings, Open Lab Solutions founded Innovative Laboratory Solutions its first wholly-owned subsidiary. This new division began a project to offer customizable lab-in-a-box services directly to providers. Through this program doctors, providers, clinics, and various other healthcare groups would be able to begin offering diagnostic testing on-site, without the need to send every sample to third-party diagnostic laboratories. The program is designed to include all of the supplies, equipment, staff, managing the required lab certifications, and provide billing support to guarantee that the provider receives the best-rated reimbursements.
As the Company continued to grow, it was recognized that resources, staffing, and projects needed to be allocated to appropriately designated dedicated entities. This initiative led to the founding of Open Lab Solutions' second wholly-owned subsidiary. Cynergy Solutions was formed to be the holding company for all software and hardware development being undertaken by the Company. Originally a standalone Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), the software and hardware roadmaps began to grow as other avenues presented themselves. From direct-to-patient lab ordering, to a neutral interface engine, to hardware being designed to help labs manage their operations, the suite of software and hardware being developed is an all encompassing solution that is designed to vertically integrate with providers, clinics, hospitals, and various other healthcare groups to provide better, more accurate patient care with fewer delays.
As 2021 was drawing to a close, several developments began unfolding which would alter the Company's future. The first event came in late November when a shipment of plastic extraction plates was received on November 23, 2021. The products had been ordered from the vendor in June of 2020. Until this time, there had been supply shortages; however, none had ever taken this long. The second series of events began in December of 2021 when the continued pandemic policies of overseas suppliers started creating supply chain shortages which directly affected laboratory operations. These shortages continued well into the 2022 calendar year and almost caused the Company to suspend blood draws and certain related testing when major vendors began an allocation process to ration their inventories. A crisis was averted when the necessary supplies were purchased through a popular online auction site, and this was not an isolated incident. The Company resorted to these purchase practices on several occasions which ultimately formed the foundation that ignited the next expansion of the company and led to a simple question: Why?
That simple question ignited a research project which concludes that our healthcare supply chain is extremely susceptible to outside influences from overseas suppliers. Even today, these influences continue to impact the operations of groups throughout the sector. Before the Pandemic, the Company was able to easily maintain a 6-month supply of the necessary products required to function normally; however, as of today there are still extended lead times on countless goods ranging from specialized plates to reservoirs to assays and reagents. A strong and robust healthcare supply chain is necessary to ensure that the Healthcare Industry can provide uninterrupted services to our kids, our parents, ourselves, our neighbors, the delivery drivers, and all those responsible for guaranteeing that we have food on the shelves in the stores. It is also essential for maintaining a healthy and effective military force. The healthcare supply chain should be considered a National Security Resource, but it is not, and that is something we are working to change.
In 2022, Open Lab Solutions started a new chapter when it took a bold step and embarked on an expansion project that would focus on offsetting the deficiencies of the healthcare supply chain. AMCAR Scientific was founded as the third wholly-owned subsidiary, and its focus is developing a local, dependable, reliable, and secure source of consumables, assays, reagents, and various other products for the Healthcare Industry. When the program roadmap for this new project was laid out the primary objective was to produce local which means re-shoring the vital production and manufacturing infrastructure that is required to fulfill the basic requirements of the Healthcare Industry today, and plan for tomorrow.
To accommodate this new program, AMCAR Scientific began a site selection survey process in mid-2022 that looked at several areas in which to start this expansion. Dallas, Phoenix, and North Las Vegas areas were initially targeted, and after several months the Tulsa and Kansas City areas were also added to the selection process. By the end of 2022, the site selections were reduced to three areas: the North Dallas Metroplex area, North Phoenix, and Tulsa. Throughout 2023, a 5-year roadmap was finalized for the AMCAR Scientific product offerings and this was used as the framework for how Open Lab Solutions will grow its offerings, and meet the needs of the Healthcare Industry of today, with an eye on the future.
Today, Open Lab Solutions has become an Oklahoma based Bio-Life Science and Technology holding company dedicated to developing products and solutions for the Healthcare Industry that help provide better patient care. Through this effort, Open Lab Solutions owns and operates divisions focusing on Medical Diagnostic Laboratories, Molecular Testing Kit Manufacturing, Software and Hardware Solutions, Managed Laboratory Services, and Medical Consumable Manufacturing.
In Q4 of 2024, Open Lab Solutions will be announcing a 3-phase project timeline for the next stage of its growth. These announcements will lay out an expansion plan that seeks to grow the Company, and its divisions, to more than 9 states over the next 3-5 years. Along with this announcement, Open Lab Solutions will be laying out its short- and long-term plans for its capital and fundraising efforts required to fulfill the vision that is guiding the Company towards a bright future.