"If
only I'd known about Scott!"
tomers via electronic mail, and the chemists and engineers will be able to interrogate our computers to determine the status of their samples. A. H. Robins Company Scientific Information Department Richmond, Va. 26609 Contributor: R. J. Barbie
B
efore
Cavendish could publish his work on inflammable air, he had to spend years verifying his experiments. What a pity he could not have referred to the Scott Specialty Gases B u y i n g Guide and gotten into Proc. Royal Soc. more quickly! Life at the bench is easier today. Containing great resources of information on gases, gas handling e q u i p m e n t and gas analytical services, the Scott B u y i n g Guide is available to all p h y s i c a l , a n a l y t i c a l , synthetic and applications chemists.
Did we say gas analytical services? Yes. We refer to the Scott collaborative gas analysis cross reference service — a unique effort in w h i c h identical u n k n o w n s are dispatched to subscribing laboratories, results g a t h e r e d a n d p u b l i s h e d in periodic and retrospective reports. Such reports can be the only way of detecting and correcting hidden biases in analytical techniques, and can prove trie standard of excellence of your o w n laboratory for c o m p l i a n c e or evidence. Full information on this valuable service is in the Scott Specialty Gases B u y i n g Guide. Ask now for your copy of the justpublished edition. It's m u c h in demand. New edition of Scott Specialty G a s e s B u y i n g G u i d e just published — get your copy today!
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In September of 1979 a task force was formed at Robins to investigate available alternatives for laboratory automation. Task force representatives were from Quality Assurance, Drug Metabolism, Analytical Research, the Corporate Computer Center, and Scientific Information. The task force formulated the following system requirements: • Sample management functions, such as sample initialization, scheduling, and reporting, must be present. • Hardware and software must support data acquisition from varied laboratory instruments in real time. • Software must permit both standard and customized reports to be produced for laboratory personnel. This includes graphic capabilities. • The system must archive all instrument-produced data. Audit trail and access control features are required. • The system must be expandable to support additional instruments. • The system must have the ability to transfer data within a network. Among the vendors responding to these needs was Computer Inquiry Systems, Inc. Their Computer Automation Laboratory System (CALS) with Lab Manager System (LBMGR) came remarkably close to meeting the above requirements. CALS consists of a Hewlett-Packard 1000 minicomputer with instrument interface equipment and computer terminals placed in the laboratory areas (Figure 4). For instruments having an analog output (gas chromatographs, spectrophotometers, etc.), the software provides for peak area integration, automatic baseline recognition, detection of shoulders, and tangent peak skimming. Relative response factors, area normalization, standard sample, and internal standard modes of calculation are implemented. Plotting of instrument data is supported, and instrument runs may be overlaid for comparison. CALS can also handle single reading instruments, such as nonscanning spectrophotometers and analytical balances. Any instrument having a digital display or a printer-type output can have its data transmitted to CALS for processing. All subsequent processing of the
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data is via the terminal in the laboratory area. Piles can be accessed by standard CALS software and the data can be plotted and/or reported. The chemist can also construct programs (in BASIC or Fortran) to access, calculate, and report data in a manner of his or her choosing. Results of tests run on instruments interfaced to CALS are automatically posted to LBMGR. The LBMGR package is a comprehensive set of programs that allows each installation to customize the system based on the particulars of the environment. This is accomplished by storing customer parameters in what are called dictionaries. The ID dictionary identifies the users of the system and the functions that they are allowed to perform. The T E S T dictionary defines each laboratory procedure or test. The SPECification dictionary defines which tests are to be performed on each product. A CALCulation dictionary can be used to define routine calculations associated with a particular test procedure. Using the information in the dictionaries, the system users can initialize samples, schedule tests, and report sample status or results on request. Completed sample results are stored in the LBMGR data base for long-term reports for management. All these facilities are available to the chemist on interactive terminals in each lab. The Standard Oil Company Research and Development Department Cleveland, Ohio 44128 Correspondent: M. K. Snavely Dart and Kraft, Inc. Analytical and Testing Department Paramus, N.J. 07652 Correspondent: F. Scardiglia
Aluminum Company of America Alcoa Technical Center Alcoa Center, Pa. 15069 Correspondent: R. S. Danchik
3M Central Research Laboratories St. Paul, Minn. 55144 Correspondent:
W. L. Stebbings
Four other quite different approaches to a LIMS installation will be of interest to the reader attempting to synthesize a LIMS solution appropriate to his or her own environment. The Standard Oil Company of Ohio
