LIMS integration is possible with automated, rapid microbiological methods like the Growth Direct System from Rapid Micro Biosystems
Pharmaceutical manufacturers have used Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) for years to streamline workflows and share and track data through powerful but user-friendly interfaces. By integrating LIMS with a variety of automated systems in the manufacturing process, these companies have been able to save time, eliminate redundancies and reduce the potential for human error.
While the industry has been slow to apply the same innovations to quality control labs, LIMS integration is possible with automated, rapid microbiological methods (RMM) like the Growth Direct System from Rapid Micro Biosystems. The technology can integrate with users' existing LIMS, automatically recording and sharing test results with the rest of the organisation.
Why is integration of microbial quality control test results with LIMS beneficial? For starters, the traditional, non-automated, non-integrated testing environment requires microbiologists to perform a variety of repetitive manual tasks, and it creates the potential for errors that can result in costly investigations.
These manual tasks can be all but eliminated by integrating the Growth Direct System with a LIMS, resulting in cost and time savings. The need for corrections is greatly reduced as transcription errors are eliminated. In one study, a 57% time reduction with the LIMS-integrated Growth Direct System was realised when compared with the conventional data entry method.
Want to see just how the process works from test initiation to final results with the LIMS-integrated Growth Direct System? Below is one step-by-step process, but the system can be configured to be aligned to your use of LIMS and barcoding:
The main requirements to implement two-way LIMS integration include the following:
Even if two-way integration isn't feasible for your lab today, you can still reap many of the same time-saving benefits without integrating to LIMS, or performing a one-way integration where initiation of the test occurs at the Growth Direct System, and the test results are automatically sent to the LIMS.