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The laboratory is often seen as a bottleneck that only serves to slow down a production line. As Sarah Houlton reports, installing a LIMS can speed up time-to-market
Analytical laboratories generate vast amounts of information. This may be analytical data, but may also include which machine was used, who performed the test, and whether the sample in question passed or failed the relevant criteria. This leads to an information management problem - test results need to be tracked, reported and, usually, documented. This is where a laboratory information management system, or LIMS comes in - it is a tool for collating and reporting the results of laboratory tests.
LIMS are applicable in a multitude of industry sectors, but it is perhaps in pharmaceuticals that the benefits are most obvious, with its need for complete documentation of every stage of the testing process to ensure the stringent requirements of the regulatory authorities are met.
The concept of using a computer system to coordinate laboratory work and results first gained credence in the late 1970s, when a number of companies began to produce their own software. By the mid 1980s, these in-house solutions began to give way to third-party packages created by software specialists. Not surprisingly, the great strength of a LIMS is in information management, which is very important for both GLP and GMP needs. They can build in security systems so that certain people can do specific things within the system, for example authorise tests, whereas those that are not qualified cannot.
Different types of laboratories require different things from their LIMS, and systems are available that can be customised to fit around specific requirements. SampleManager from LabSystems, for example, is a core system with bolt-on packs. `We have several of these,' says LabSystems' applications manager John Perry. `For example, Yukon is an instrument integration package, Stability is targeted at shelf-life testing, and there are other packages aimed at specific industries, such as Water Management for water companies.'
LIMS are generally configurable, and can be used to make the best use of the available resources. The obvious resources are the instruments installed within the laboratory, but people and time also need managing. It can go as far down the line as reagent stock levels....