With a LIMS from dacore, you can get started with a fully integrated lab
Fully networked and self-organizing production - this is essentially the vision of Industry 4.0. The advantages are obvious: a fully networked value chain increases efficiency, saves resources and reduces costs. New requirements can be responded to immediately. Humans no longer intervene in the actual production process - each system receives the information it needs and feeds its data back into the production process.
Networking, digitalization and automation ensure competitiveness
What sounds like a dream of the future is already a reality in many areas. The traditional industrial sector, mechanical engineering and other sectors have long since embarked on the path towards „Industry 4.0“. The megatrend has also arrived in technical-physical testing laboratories: Increasing demands on efficiency, quality and sustainability as well as more complex testing processes are driving networking, digitalization and automation forward. „Laboratory 4.0“ is therefore the buzzword here too and also describes the goal of securing tomorrow's competitiveness.
Interoperability as a key criterion on the way to Lab 4.0
But how do you get started in „Lab 4.0“? One key criterion is interoperability, i.e. the ability of all components and systems involved in the value chain to work together. All other design criteria contribute to interoperability: These include visualization, for example through optimized human-machine interfaces (HMI for short), decentralization - moving away from hierarchically controlled to autonomous processes -, real-time capability in the provision of data and modularity through flexible adaptations of machines and software.
Finally, a pronounced service orientation through the provision of apps and autonomous services for communication between humans and cyber-physical systems also plays an important role in the implementation of Lab 4.0.
Modern laboratory management system is the prerequisite for the fully integrated, digital laboratory
„Admittedly, the goal of a fully integrated, self-controlling test laboratory is ambitious. But the implementation is taking place in a process in which each networking step makes the next one easier,“ says Werner Fink, CEO of dacore Datenbanksysteme AG.
No matter where a technical-physical testing laboratory stands today in terms of digitalization and thus on its way to Laboratory 4.0 - the decisive success factor is a modern laboratory management system (LIMS). This allows all processes to be successively digitalized. All processes, information management and data handling are combined under the standardized LIMS application.
„Put simply, the core idea behind implementing fully integrated laboratory management with a LIMS is to continue to close information gaps in the test laboratory, link all sub-processes without media discontinuity and pass them on for direct processing - right through to the consistent, automated test report,“ explains Fink.
The next article in our „Lab 4.0“ guide will focus on automated test report generation. This is followed by the topics of interface management, measuring equipment management, IOT in the laboratory, the use of mobile devices and lean management in the laboratory.