Starting with manual processing

The Blood Center supplies both apheresis and whole blood-derived platelets (WBDPs) to its customers. The Blood Center previously relied on a multi-step manual process to produce WBDPs. Manual processing introduced variability in yields and quality, required significant technician oversight, and consumed valuable staff time.

In January 2025, after several months of planning and preparing for this new technology, The Blood Center received and implemented four Reveos devices. While they continue to produce some WBDPs through the manual process, they are also using the Reveos automated process and plan to eventually transition fully to automated WBDPs.

“This is a milestone moment for our center,” said Mickie Wilson-Martin, Production and Distribution Manager at The Blood Center. “We’ve waited a long time for a solution like this — one that truly modernizes how we manage whole blood. Being among the first in the U.S. to implement Reveos is something we’re incredibly proud of, and it sends a powerful message as we work to attract younger talent. We may be small, but we are mighty, and we’re here for our community.”

Revolutionizing platelet production through automation

With Reveos, the complex steps of balancing, centrifuging, expressing, sealing, and transferring data are seamlessly integrated into a single, streamlined workflow by consistently processing whole blood into components in an average of 25 minutes. Reveos has not only elevated the way blood is processed, but also redefined how platelets are produced.

This innovation comes at a critical time. Blood centers are under growing pressure as platelet shortages, staffing limitations, and an aging donor population strain the system. Nearly 98% of the U.S. platelet supply is currently collected through apheresis — an intensive process in which platelets are drawn directly from a single donor using specialized equipment during a lengthy procedure. Until now, apheresis has been the dominant method for platelet collection in the U.S. The use of Reveos is helping expand the supply of platelets.

Production and Distribution Technician Tyler Poirrier explained, “Reveos definitely makes the whole platelet process a lot faster and easier, especially because of the yields that the machine gives us. It shortens my visual inspection from having to manually check and sort every single one of them.”