Pre-Configured Solutions for Food and Beverage QA/QC Labs

For food and beverage companies facing extremely tight margins, careful cost control is essential to success. While implementing a new laboratory informatics solution can be a costly endeavor, these solutions can improve lab efficiency and help achieve compliance with regulatory requirements. Pre-configured solutions can go a step further, providing accelerated implementation times for faster return on investment.

The Food and Beverage Solution for Thermo Scientific™ SampleManager LIMS™ software provides food and beverage Quality Assurance and Quality Control laboratories with industry-standard functionality in a pre-configured package. The solution leverages SampleManager LIMS software functionality and capabilities including the LES, customer portal, data analytics, and ready to use dashboards. With this pre-configured solution, your lab can get up and running faster with less user training in a system that’s easier to maintain.

Using this pre-configured solution, food and beverage QA/QC labs benefit from pre-defined workflows for common lab tasks.  The solution includes dashboards enabling lab managers and administrators to track key performance indicators (KPIs) for up-to-date information on lab health. Laboratories can also leverage pre-defined LES methods, supporting consistent execution of tests.

Pre-configured LES methods

For laboratories looking to drive process compliance and enable electronic management and execution of SOPs, the LES is an essential tool. It provides a way to digitize laboratory procedures so that you can walk your staff through complex procedural tasks step-by-step, checking resource availability and recording data directly to SampleManager LIMS software as you go. LES helps ensure correct and accurate SOP execution and captures the complete process history, driving quality and compliance through consistent, repeatable and controlled execution of methods and processes.

The Food and Beverage Solution includes three pre-defined LES methods specifically designed for food and beverage testing laboratories. These methods enable labs to get up and running quickly on LES to execute lactose detection and quantification, mycotoxin detection and quantification, and pesticide detection and quantification. These pre-defined methods can also serve as templates for creation of additional methods as usage grows.

Secure, professional customer portal

Contract labs using the Food and Beverage Solution can offer clients a secure online portal to access their work and results, releasing their analysts from administrative tasks and improving customer experience. The portal enables contract lab clients to approve quotes, log in samples against statements of work, and access results. The configurable user interface allows customer re-branding, making it possible to change colors, add logos and create tailored navigation menus.

Data analytics and Key Performance Indicators

The Food and Beverage Solution for SampleManager LIMS software offers powerful pre-configured KPI dashboards. These dashboards provide lab managers with a complete picture of lab performance. At a glance, the lab manager or system administrator can identify performance bottlenecks, monitor stock levels, and track overall lab health.

Enhanced incident management

The Food and Beverage Solution includes pre-configured incident management capabilities to help manage out of specification or out of trend results. When results are outside the expected range, the solution automatically creates an incident for the result and notifies the user. Users can easily track the investigation in the system, including any additional samples tested. The system captures corrective actions and can link to an external investigation system. Results with open incidents are highlighted on the screen for easy identification. In the event of a recall, powerful lot and batch traceability enables users to quickly identify affected product.

Sensory testing capabilities

Understanding the sensory experience of a food (appearance, texture, taste, and smell) can provide insight into the potential appeal of the product to your target demographic. The Food and Beverage Solution for SampleManager LIMS software includes a pre-defined function to manage sensory analysis results. Analysts can quickly identify testing characteristics and the number of test participants. The sensory panel report captures results and produces a radar chart displaying the product’s characteristics.

Learning more

The Food and Beverage Solution for SampleManager LIMS software provides food and beverage QA/QC laboratories with a comprehensive pre-configured informatics solution with a low total cost of ownership and high return on investment. For more information on the solution, visit our food and beverage industry page.