Logins, Labels and LasersBarcode Scanners in the Lab

Labware Asia-Pacific CEC 27-30 August 2013

Intro to BlueScope Labs

Intro to BlueScope Labs

Analytical Chemistry• Environment testing (waters)

• Product testing (research & development)

• Fuels and lubricants analysis

• Trace organics analysisg y

Air Quality• Environment testing (air emissions)• Environment testing (air emissions)

• Engineering & process monitoring

Raw Materials Testing• Process materials analysis (physical properties)

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Intro to BlueScope Labs

Steel and Metals Analysis• Steel production analysis (real-time)

• Product analysis (steel chemistry certification)

• Process materials analysis (chemistry)

Mechanical Testing Laboratory• Product analysis (mechanical certification)

Perhaps more in the works as well…• Other labs in the business

• WebLIMS logins for customers

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The old way

Use of LIMS in the labs… the old way

No two labs used the same LIMS system• Analytical Chemistry, Air Quality and Steel/Metals Analysis Lab had five separate COTS LIMS

databases between them all with little supportdatabases between them, all with little support

• Analytical Chemistry had an additional LIMS running on an ancient out-of-service Macintosh just for trace organics analysis

• Steel/Metals Lab had an additional in-house LIMS system running just for automated production • Steel/Metals Lab had an additional in-house LIMS system running just for automated production analysis, with only one support person

• Mechanical Testing had no LIMS system and fed everything manually into a mainframe system, or used a paper system

• Raw Materials had no LIMS system and just wrote everything on paper

And yet ALL these labs shared samples amongst each other…And yet ALL these labs shared samples amongst each other…

As you may imagine, this made labelling a bit interesting

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Use of LIMS in the labs… the old way

Almost all labels were hand-written• Dodgy pens?

L b l d t t / l t / di t?• Labels exposed to water / solvents / dirt?• Bad handwriting?• Mistakes?

TIME SPENT?• TIME SPENT?

Samples were often sampled by one lab, logged in, hand-labelled, and given to another lab to analyse…

…then logged in again to their LIMS, and labelled with a new sample number…

then analysis results were stored in the analysis lab database and a raw report produced which was …then analysis results were stored in the analysis lab database and a raw report produced, which was handed back to the testing lab…

…which was then entered by hand into the testing lab’s database and another final report produced on the original sample number

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the original sample number…

The new way

Logging in and labelling – the new way

Now we all use the same sample identification which gets passed through the labs, from sampling to analysis to reporting

Traceability Consistency Legibility Time spent labelling

Time spent logging in

Time spent data

h dlilabelling logging in handling

A good automated labelling system was the next step

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Label production around the labs

Analytical Chemistry• Labels printed out manually via a menu routine on Project Manager (mostly scheduled)

• Samples usually subdivided for analysis, separate labels required for each container

• Label content for each container set by LIMSBasic rules – container type, tests to be performed, preservation required, etc

Air Quality• Labels printed automatically on receipt of sample (mostly manual logins, some scheduled)

• Samples usually given to Analytical Chemistry for analysis

• Label content also governed by rules in LIMSBasic – container type, contents of container, tests to be performed, etc

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Label production around the labs

Raw Materials• Labels printed automatically on receipt of sample (mostly from scheduler)

• Many samples subdivided and delivered to Metals Lab and Analytical Chemistry for analysis

• Content rules in LIMSBasic – container type, tests to be performed, destination lab, etc

Steel & Metals Analysis• Production steel sample labels contain Sample ID (plant system identifier) and our own LIMS Text ID;

necessary for input into instrument software

• Labels printed automatically when sample is delivered – notification via Web Services

Mechanical Testingg• Labels automatically printed out on login of samples being sent to Metals Lab

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What to do with such lovely barcodes?

Sample delivery notifications• Samples can be scanned on delivery into other sections

• Location change triggered on sample – chain of command

• Custom tables built to record timestamps of delivery

• This can be used to generate a report of sample turnaround times – specific for each lab, not just for g p p p jlifecycle of whole sample

Scanning into instrument software• In Steel Production, instrument software needs both LIMS number and plant identifier

• Scanners can be programmed to split barcode strings and hop between fields for correct input format

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More use of barcodes and scanners…

Use of htmlScanDialog() function from M0506• Core functionality can be used to scan samples into an existing folder (Folder Manager Options →

S S l )Scan Samples)

• Also using htmlScanDialog to create adhoc folders from immediately available piles of samples

• Using htmlScanDialog to seek for a file directory or individual file outside of LIMS which is associated with a samplewith a sample

• Tracking movements of scheduled samples with tightly regulated collection times – ensuring nothing is missed

• Seeking individual result fields in grid result entry no need to analyse samples in order• Seeking individual result fields in grid result entry – no need to analyse samples in order

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LIMS demo

A few technical notes…

Scanners being used by BlueScope – two models• LS2208 Symbol brand scanner

• Extensive programmability

• Can split strings, insert characters, skip forward and back, program rules (simple if-statements) etc

• Relatively simple to program using barcoded commands

• Gryphon GD4100• Not as programmable; still has some good functionality but mostly using where a straight read is

necessary

• Very hardy – have had some in use for a long time

Barcode printers• Zebra Brand, various models (GX420t, GK420t, TLP 2844)

• Relatively simple programming language for encoding labels

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Thank you