Benjamin Franklin, early American inventor, entrepreneur, author, politician, and diplomat, was known for his pithy expressions. One of his most famous, oft-quoted sayings is, “An ounce [28 g] of prevention is worth a pound [454 g] of cure.” Less well known is that Franklin's sage advice about prevention was given in the context of his organizing the first fire-fighting company in Philadelphia (1). At that time, fires posed an ever-present risk for the residents of Philadelphia and other cities. Meticulous handling of candles, lanterns, embers, and ashes helped avoid property loss, financial ruin, injury, and death. The safety of the populace was inextricably tied to the fire-handling practices of every individual. Today, clinical laboratories are essential components of healthcare systems, contributing invaluable information for the diagnosis, treatment, and avoidance of disease. Decades of research and development have yielded a wide array of sophisticated assays and analyzers. Simultaneously, societal trends and improvements in disease management have fueled an increase in the prevalence of chronic disease, which is driving a clinical demand for long-term consistency in laboratory test results. Assay suppliers attempt to minimize lot-to-lot variation in reagents via manufacturing processes and by conducting lot-release testing to avoid distributing unsuitable lots. Clinical laboratories perform lot-to-lot validation testing to verify a manufacturer's performance claims and assure the ongoing reliability of testing. Yet, practicing laboratorians know that far too much time is spent dealing with inconsistent results. In this issue of Clinical Chemistry , Algeciras-Schimnich and colleagues report multiple failures of lot-to-lot validation procedures to detect significant between-lot differences in an insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)3 assay over a 5-year period in 2 laboratories, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Virginia (2). During this period, the Mayo Clinic used 32 reagent lots, and the University of Virginia used 16 lots. With every …