Calibration management: Why you need it

Want to be an accurately measured step ahead of the rest? Increase your laboratory’s competitive advantage with the new calibration management system from QBCon. The latest addition to the QBCon stable is a software solution that will help your business and increase the productivity of your laboratory. Interested? Read on…

Calibration Management 101

Calibration is based on the process of matching a measuring instrument with a measurement standard. By doing this, the relationship between the values that are shown by the instrument and those of the measurement standard are established.

How accurate are your results?

An indispensable part of your business

You need a calibration management system for your business because:

• Regular calibration and maintenance of instrumentation is important as it improves the performance of devices. If your laboratory offers a continuous record of traceable calibration it will also create more confidence in the measurements generated by your laboratory’s instruments.
• Your high quality calibration records will be available at the drop of a hat for interested parties (laboratory staff, managers, auditors).
• Costs and time spend on unnecessary maintenance is now minimised and productivity is increased. 

The features of calibration management

The QBCon calibration management system will notify you when calibration is due, and it keeps a record of all the previous calibrations that were done. The calibration management system history also features the details of equipment maintenance and repairs. If you want to know who calibrated (and is responsible) for your laboratory’s instruments, the calibration management tool will tell you that as well.

Risk control

The QBCon calibration management system assists in the managing and reduction of risk. Correctly performed calibration guarantees consistency and accuracy, and ensures that your products and services are comparable and compatible during every repeatable performance.

Want to know how calibration will assist in improving the operational structures of your business? Contact one of specialists for a more tailored solution that will suit your business’ needs.

Royal Swazi Sugar Corporation Ltd. implements Lab-i

To keep up with the growing needs of its customers, Royal Swazi Sugar Corporation Ltd. (RSSC) recently implemented a laboratory information management system (LIMS) to replace their manual management system.

RSSC invested in Lab-i, a LIMS by business solution provider QBCon, to streamline and optimise its business processes. RSSC wanted an application to combine its various manual, paper-based systems into one computerised management system.

Lab-i was customised to combine:

Client base information and management (client details, pricing, invoicing, reporting)
Sample receiving and registration
Sample tracking
Test methods, unique calculations and formulas
Daily laboratory operations
Reporting
Invoicing

Lab-i will assist RSSC in managing and measuring daily laboratory activities - from sample receiving and registration to customer reporting and invoicing. The system is designed to reduce paperwork and protect information. Lab-i also minimises calculation errors as all RSSC's unique formulas and calculations have successfully been programmed into the system.

The first project initiation meeting was combined with a three-day joint application design (JAD) session to identify RSSC’s unique business processes. This part of the process was completed at the end of May 2010.

The system implementation phase was started in middle September 2010 and completed the first week in October 2010. This was one of the quickest implementations that QBCon has undertaken.

Said QBCon account and project manager, Winston Connor, “The dedication and determination of all the staff at RSSC was the key driving force behind the success of this project. It has truly been an honour to be involved on this project and to work with such a dedicated team.”

To find out more about QBCon or Lab-i, please visit our website at www.qbcon.com

Continuous Improvement

What is continuous improvement? Google it and you will find a plethora of information on it. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_Improvement_Process) suggests the following: Continuous Improvement Process (CIP, or CI) is an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes. These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once.

The question is, which is best? Should a company direct their efforts at incremental, or breakthrough improvements? This is perhaps a more difficult question to answer, as in most cases this would depend on the company's current situation. This is best explained by example.

My mother used to work as an estate agent, a career that required a lot of travelling away from the office to various different houses, and meeting different potential buyers at every meeting. To stay in contact, all the agents had long-range two-way radios. If the buyer wanted to see another property that was not prearranged, the agents could simply pick up the radio and contact the agency, who would arrange a meeting with the next home owner, and then confirm the appointment with the agent again by means of the radio. This worked very well and required a very efficient middleman (as many business processes still do today), but with the pros came a whole list of cons too. One of the largest issues was the lack of immediate feedback, and the resulting waste of time and resources. Today, this type of business is still on the go, and they have moved from radios, through beepers (pagers), to mobile phones. In this instance the improvement in communication was incremental.

However, if we consider another process in the estate agents business, show houses, a more drastic change took place in the age of the Internet. Few people would view a house nowadays without looking at it online first. This was a huge stride in saving time and resources. You can look at ten houses online in the time it would have taken you to visit a single house. This is more of a breakthrough type of improvement when one considers the lucky dip of show houses on the weekend, compared to the complex searching facilities of most property websites.

The better of the two solutions depends on many factors. The incremental approach in this example needed a lot of investment in devices that are no longer viable. The business still runs in the same manner, and even the receptionist still has a role to play in most offices. Although the business is more efficient, the results to the bottom line were not drastically influenced by the arrival of the mobile phone.

The breakthrough improvement has significant impact to the bottom line of this business. The Internet and its virtual house tours eliminated the need for estate agents to have offices and show houses. This savings in time and resources is phenomenal. This saving is surely what any business would like to achieve?

Continuous incremental improvement is certainly a prerequisite to survival in today’s competitive marketplace, but this type of improvement is the norm. To boldly influence the future path of your business, breakthrough improvements are essential.

So what does this mean for a laboratory? Simply put, continuous improvements on dated paper and Excel-based systems are only incremental. They result in slight improvements in productivity and efficiency, but in contrast, profitability remains largely unchanged.

However, implementing a complete laboratory information management system (LIMS) like QBCon's Lab-i system, which can be integrated with all instruments and accounting packages, would be a breakthrough improvement. The resulting change would have a drastic impact on the way the business runs and similarly have a huge positive impact on profitability. To find out more about what QBCon can do to improve your business systems and bottom line, contact to craft a unique solution for you.


Written by Lloyd Bekker on behalf of QBCon.

Vesuvius invests in Lab-i

Vesuvius is an international Refractory Company supplying specialised products for the molten metal, glass and renewable energy industries. Vesuvius invested in software from business solution provider QBCon.

The company invested in a laboratory information management system (LIMS) combined with business intelligence (BI) tool, EasyAsk. QBCon's LIMS offering, Lab-i, will help Vesuvius manage the quality assurance (QA) process by tracking samples and reporting on the results throughout the manufacturing process.

Lab-i reduces paperwork and increases overall laboratory efficiency.

The LIMS software is combined with the superior reporting abilities of EasyAsk. EasyAsk analyses relevant data from various databases and creates management information without backroom involvement. EasyAsk relies on natural language processing (NLP), enabling users to access data by typing a question similar to a Google search.

The powerful software will facilitate the QA process on all tests Vesuvius conduct. Examples of tests performed include hot properties, strength, density and chemical composition.

The Lab-i product will ensure Vesuvius conforms to international standards. It will improve the quality of their QA process, but also give them the ability to track samples within the broader complex testing process.
The systems will be successfully integrated with Vesuvius testing equipment by the end of the year.

Visit the QBCon website for more information.

QBCon supplies Lab-i solution to ROYAL SWAZILAND SUGAR CORPORATION LIMITED

The Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) invested in a laboratory information management system (LIMS) from business solution provider, QBCon.

RSSC laboratory processes around 2 000 samples every month. These agricultural samples, ranging from soil to fertiliser, usually have to be analysed quickly. The RCCS required a LIMS to streamline their processes and improve turnaround time. They also needed a solution to meet the ever-growing demands from clients.

QBCon’s Lab-i could meet all of the RCCS's needs. Lab-i reduces administration, keeps track of samples through bar coding and encourages accountability through biometrics.

The user-friendly LIMS allows laboratories to keep track of samples from the minute they enter the laboratory. Knowing where in the laboratory a sample is, which technician worked on it and how many tests have been performed on it can assist laboratories in identifying bottlenecks and improve turnaround time.

The RSSC employs over 3 500 people and produces two-thirds of the country’s sugar. With Lab-i, the company can improve turnaround time on sample analysis to ensure it continues to produce the very best sugar possible.

Visit the QBCon home page for more.

Dry-density/water-content relationship

The laboratory environment can get complicated. Running the correct tests in the right way, keeping track of samples and which laboratory technicians worked on each sample can take up a lot of time. With Lab-i, a laboratory information management system (LIMS) from business solution provider QBCon, you can focus on the most effective methods of analysis without worrying about time-consuming administration.

This week's blog entry focuses on the dry-density/water-content relationship. Why don't you focus on the test and let QBCon take care of your laboratory?

Dry-density/water-content relationship

The aim of the test is to establish the maximum dry density that may be attained for a given soil with a standard amount of compactive effort. When a series of samples of a soil are compacted at different water content the plot usually shows a distinct peak.

The maximum dry density occurs at an optimum water content.

The curve is drawn with axes of dry density and water content and the controlling values are values read off:
rd(max) = maximum dry density
wopt = optimum water content

Different curves are obtained for different compactive efforts

Explanation of the shape of the curve

For clays

Recently excavated and generally saturated lumps of clayey soil have a relatively high undrained shear strength at low water contents and are difficult to compact. As water content increases, the lumps weaken and soften and maybe compacted more easily.

For coarse soils

The material is unsaturated and derives strength from suction in pore water which collects at grain contacts. As the water content increases, suctions, and hence effective stresses decrease. The soil weakens, and is therefore more easily compacted.

For both

At relatively high water contents, the compacted soil is nearly saturated (nearly all of the air has been removed) and so the compactive effort is in effect applying undrained loading and so the void volume does not decrease; as the water content increases the compacted density achieved will decrease, with the air content remaining almost constant.

1. SCOPE

The maximum dry density and optimum moisture content, as defined below, is determined
by establishing the moisture-density relationship of the material when prepared and
compacted with a vibratory hammer at different moisture contents.

1.1 Definitions

Maximum density: The maximum density of a material for a specific compactive effort is the highest density obtainable when the compaction is carried out on the material at varied moisture contents.

Optimum moisture content: The optimum moisture content for a specific compactive effort is the moisture content at which the maximum density is obtained.

MDD & OMC

Soil compaction can be a very economical method of soil improvement, and it is often used to make ground suitable for the foundations of roads and buildings. It is also used in the placing of soil fills and in the construction of earth dams to ensure suitable soil properties. The compaction is normally achieved through the input of energy into the soil by impact, kneading, vibration or static means.

The extent of compaction depends on the moisture content of the soil and the compactive effort used. In a compaction test the object is to determine the optimum moisture content and maximum dry density achievable with a given compactive effort. A plot of dry density versus moisture content indicates that compaction becomes more efficient up to a certain moisture content, after which the efficiency decreases. The maximum dry density is obtained at this optimum moisture content.

If the compaction process were completely efficient, it would be possible (but not necessarily desirable) to expel all the air from the voids, in which case the dry density would correspond to a zero-air voids state (ie. the sample would be saturated with water). Since perfect compaction is not possible (except at high moisture contents and low dry density) the compaction curve will always fall below the ideal or zero-air voids curve.

It should be noted that there are a number of standards for compaction tests, each differing in the amount of energy input into compaction. For a given soil the different tests will produce different maximum dry densities and optimum moisture contents (ie. these parameters are NOT soil properties). The maximum dry density and optimum moisture content are only relevant for a specified compaction procedure which should be stated when presenting the results.

In earthworks it is common to specify a dry density within a certain percentage of the maximum determined from a specified compaction test. For this to be a sensible procedure it is important that the compactive effort used in the laboratory is comparable to that supplied by the field equipment.

Visit the QBCon website.

The laboratory toolset

Every industry has basic tools enabling businesses to function effectively. These tools can include computers with software for writing documents. E-mail application’s to communicate with employees, partners, clients or financial management software. Most of these tools are no longer a luxury. We rely on these tools in the day to day running of our businesses.

Tools like equipment and software are more specialised for each industry. Commercial laboratories are diverse, but the basis of successful operations must be consistent. Laboratories rely on trained staff, clients (samples), formulas, chemicals, testing equipment, and processes. Combining these with good management will give you the basis for your success.

What if you could increase your probability of success?

Laboratory information management systems (LIMS) are often overlooked when laboratories put together their toolboxes. LIMS provide opportunities for improvement of your lab. If used correctly, LIMS allow a number of tangible benefits, including increased productivity and quality, faster and better service, and can increase your bottom line.
QBCon’s Lab-i will do just that. What sets us apart from our competitors? We have been in the industry for 18 years and we have a home grown advantage. We can customize our systems to satisfy our customer’s needs whilst ensuring a short turnaround time.

Visit the QBCon home page for more on Lab-i http://www.qbcon.com/