A new case study released by Autoscribe Informatics (A Xybion Company) highlights how CIA Labs has streamlined their approval process, reduced the burden of paperwork, and improved their overall turn-around times by adopting Autoscribe’s Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

Based in Saint Joseph, Missouri, Custom Industrial Analysis Labs (CIA Labs) 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. 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. CIA Labs 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 Certificates of Analysis (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.

CIA Labs are configuring the LIMS themselves as their needs evolve. “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”, they said. “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 digitize and automate processes across their organization”, 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.”

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