In 2005, Bioindustrial Services identified certain bottlenecks that prohibited the company from growing. “Our work used to be 50% documentation and paperwork and 50% results,” said Rajna Towers, founding member and managing director of Bioindustrial Services. 

This lengthy documentation process did not only cost them valuable time, but also barred the laboratory from taking on new clients.

“A laboratory does have a legal identity, we have to be accountable and have everything on document. We needed a solution that will allow us to document every sample as it comes in.”

Bioindustrial Services: Background

Bioindustrial Services was registered in 1996, the laboratory was setup in 1999 and they have been operating as a contract laboratory ever since. Their client base includes the food, clinical pharmaceutical and veterinary health sector. The laboratory consists of a nutritional (animal and human nutrition), chromatography (the testing of minerals connected to nutrition and vitamins) and microbiology department, amongst others. All the departments encompass the entire quality control of everything humans and animals eat and the safety thereof. Bioindustrial Services currently employs 13 permanent staff members.

Lab-i* presented the ideal solution to Bioindustrial Services' needs.

“Lab-i allowed us to login and document a sample from the moment it arrives at our front door to the final invoicing stage. All our needs were addressed: accuracy, speed and total document control right from the start. We can locate a sample at any given time of the day, which is a great benefit for a growing company. If a client phones in and want to enquire about the status of the sample, it can easily be traced.”

Before Lab-i, Bioindustrial Services used a paper-based management system, which was time consuming and kept the laboratory from taking on more clients. The average amount of samples Bioindustrial Services handles per month ranges from 1 500 – 2 000. The analysis ratio per sample is 3:1, which means they need to log 6 000 analysis per month. With Lab-i the time-consuming paper-based process of documenting, updating and tracing samples is now a thing of the past.

Customisation

Because Bioindustrial Services works in a wide variety of industries, from solid to powder and liquids, they needed different types of sample analysis and different formulations to calculate results. QBCon customised their Lab-i offering to address the unique needs of Bioindustrial Services.

Service delivery

From a small business perspective, Lab-i offers security to Bioindustrial Services. They are able to expand their client base, as Lab-i offers fluency in various fields in terms of client info (VAT numbers, contact numbers etc.). “With Lab-i we always have the right info readily available. It speeds up the process of invoicing and for a small business this translates into keeping cash flow healthy.We are not business people, we’re scientists. We used to get subcontractors to manage the financial division, but now we rely on Lab-i to do it for us. This translates into a cost-cutting exercise and without Lab-i, the office would have needed three more staff members.” Bioindustrial Services is now also in a position to offer a faster turnaround time to their clients.

Results in growth

Lab-i attributed to Bioindustrial’s growth by enabling them to take on more clients. Their work capacity has increased and the bottlenecks they experienced before Lab-i is elimenated.

“Our staff finds it easy to use and the password function is a great feature – selected people can see what they need to, and it is also possible to monitor the staff’s progress.”

Bioindustrial Services has been using the system since 2006, and since then the amount of samples they are able to process quadrupled.

In conclusion: Thoughts on Lab-i as a user

“The system accommodates all of our requirements and we are pleased with the after-service. With any new system there are bound to be glitches, but these weren’t left for us to sort out. If a complaint was lodged, QBCon would have sorted it out within 24hours.”

 

*As a LIMS system, QBCon Lab-i creates a competitive advantage for the laboratory by allowing effective laboratory management in a multiple laboratory environment, all integrated in one user-friendly computer system. QBCon Lab-i aims to decrease paperwork and increase overall laboratory efficiency.