The new American Red Cross facility in Douglasville has the capacity to process a lot of blood. It just doesn't have enough blood to process.

As officials touted the building's increased efficiency and capability this week, only a few employees dotted the lab. Large, advanced storage refrigerators, a point of pride for region CEO Randy Edwards, stood mostly empty as every unit of blood processed and approved was sent immediately to the hospitals desperate for it.

The summer blood shortage has arrived —- and it's three weeks ahead of schedule, said Candice Gulden, director of communications for the Red Cross Blood Services Southern Region.

"The challenge is your raw material —- blood," Gulden said, adding that about 3.5 percent of eligible Georgians donate.

"We just don't have enough people giving and giving often enough."

Red Cross Blood Services Southern Region, which includes Georgia and parts of Florida and South Carolina, unveiled its new headquarters Tuesday —- a 185,000-square-foot building that will dramatically increase its capacity to process donated blood.

The $38.5 million facility serves more than 130 hospitals. But with slow donations, only about 30 percent of what is requested by the hospitals can be provided, Gulden said.

She said the shortage arrived earlier this year, partly because demand is increasing by about 2 percent each year across the country.

Edwards, who heads the Southern Region, said about 20 percent of all donations come from high school and college students giving through blood drives.

With schools out, donations drop.

"People get out of their routines," he added. "It's typical to see blood regions on media appeals [for donations] in the summer."

An average of 1,200 units of donated blood are needed in the region each day.

The new building replaces a cramped 82,000-square-foot facility in Midtown. Its construction, which was paid for in part through donations and the sale of the old building, is part of a nationwide plan to reduce the number of blood processing centers from 33 to 13 while increasing efficiency and capacity to produce.

The Georgia facility is the third to be built as part of the nationwide plan.

The region has been processing about 300,000 units —- or single donations of blood —- per year. The Douglasville location, which operates around the clock seven days a week, could increase production to more than 1 million units per year. It will begin processing blood from Alabama next month and will continue to expand to encompass more states.

The building, off Riverside Parkway in Douglasville, can accomplish that efficiently because of the linear design of the lab, Edwards said.

"[The efficiency] is as much about design as it is about technology," he said.

Donated blood enters the lab on one end, goes through processing when it is separated into various components, such as plasma or red blood cells, and eventually is readied for transport to area hospitals at the other end of the lab. Advanced refrigeration systems are located at each spot down the line.

Vernon Atkinson, director of manufacturing for the Red Cross' Southeast Division, said processing runs about 12 hours faster at the new facility than in Midtown. About 95 percent of donations are processed in less than 24 hours.

But none of the improvements can make up for the lack of blood.

Typically Red Cross chapters issue emergency appeals for blood donations later in the summer. Gulden said the Southern region could issue such an appeal as early as next week.

WANT TO DONATE?

> Eligible whole blood donors can give blood every 56 days

> To find out if you are eligible or how to donate, visit www.givebloodredcross.org or call 1-800-448-3543.