CIA Labs embraces LIMS to drive efficiency, best practice

Custom Industrial Analysis Labs (CIA Labs), based in Missouri, USA, has been in operation for over 30 years serving the pharmaceutical, food and agribusiness industries, as well as testing for various industrial and chemical clients. The company recently streamlined its approval process, reduced the burden of paperwork and improved overall turnaround times by adopting Autoscribe Informatics’ laboratory information management system (LIMS).

CIA Labs is a full-service contract chemical analytical laboratory offering a wide spectrum of analytical and consulting activities for clients across the USA and globally. It is an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). All pharmaceutical work is performed in compliance with cGMPs.

Prior to adopting a LIMS, paper was used to manage each sample and its associated data, from registering the sample at reception to capturing the analytical results and calculations in the laboratory, including the manual creation of certificates of analysis (CofAs). Over the years the volume, complexity and variety of the testing performed has grown dramatically, to the extent that paper processes were becoming a significant bottleneck for the business. The main benefit of Autoscribe’s LIMS has been to help eliminate these bottlenecks, by removing the need to pass paperwork between the various departments and automating the creation of reports and CofAs for clients.

Previously, as an FDA lab, all the manual paperwork had to be checked and double-checked by hand to guard against errors. Analytical results are now captured in the laboratory and checked online by the QA team. CofAs are automatically created once the checks and approvals have been completed. As a result, the total turnaround time from samples arriving to results being released to the customer has dramatically reduced.

“The Autoscribe team were always understanding and helpful during the implementation phase, even though timescales were heavily disrupted during the implementation by us moving to larger offices and the COVID pandemic,” CIA Labs said in a statement. The lab is now working to configure the LIMS as its needs evolve, noting, “Autoscribe support is always available should we have questions or issues; their team is always friendly and helpful.”

“CIA Labs is a great example of how laboratories can use the power of a LIMS to digitise and automate processes across their organisation,” said Dr Simon Wood, Product Manager at Autoscribe Informatics. “Autoscribe’s LIMS allows them to meet the audit and compliance needs required by the EPA, FDA and DEA with ease, as well as service their clients more quickly and efficiently, ensuring the continued growth and success of their business.”

Image courtesy of CIA Labs.