LAB AUTOMATION

Need for Automation
The characteristics of a fair and effective load shedding scheme as enumerated above are obviously complex to be discharged manually. Therefore, an automated, real-time and event-driven load shedding scheme becomes essential and necessary. This automated load shedding scheme may consist of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), Modems, Communication cables / wires, software protocol implementations, Real-time load shedding software including a report generation Module and a master computer station equipped with a real-time Operating System, the related development and profiling tools.

Lab Automation
R&D and testing laboratories commonly have various types of samples to be analyzed and tested. Test Engineers and Scientists have long felt the need for electronic laboratory notebooks as a way to minimize the tedium of laboratory work. Currently, researchers often spend many hours per week capturing data in paper notebooks to document their work. Paper notebooks are just one part of a much larger system for managing records, data and documents in research and development Products. Scientists require flexible, open and interoperable software solutions for electronic laboratory notebooks, Product data management, and collaboration. Fully integrated data acquisition provides the test engineers with sensitive information throughout the testing cycle to achieve better productivity and reduction of manual and routine tasks. Moreover, the large volumes of data generated makes it difficult to cull out and generate MIS information for decision making.

An integrated and unified automation solution for labs covering testing activities, log entry maintenance, test certification, report generation, data acquisition and all peripheral activities over a campus wide network is required.

Scope of the Product
The scope of the Product includes automation of Lab activities like Testing, Billing, R&D, Consultancy, Maintenance & Calibration and Divisional Accounting. It also encompasses all the other supporting activities like Accounts, Purchase, Stores, Quality, Marketing & Publicity, Planning, Civil Engineering, Electrical Maintenance, etc. It unifies all activities under one umbrella.

FUNCTIONAL AREAS:

• Testing
• Divisional Accounting
• Consultancy
• R&D
• Maintenance & Calibration
• Purchase
• Stores & Inventory
• Planning
• Accounting
• Quality
• Marketing & Publicity
• MIS
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical Maintenance

Salient Features

• Has a combination of centralised and distributed database
• Automates entire work flow of the Lab
• Generates Final Test Certification within minutes of completion of Test (which otherwise takes about a week or more)
• Standardises Final Test Report
• Authenticates Tests conducted
• Data Acquisition via RS232 and IEEE 485 for Peak Volt Metre, HiAS, RIV, etc.
• MIMIC of Radio Interference Frequency Tests
• Auto-application of Correction Factor based on Atmospheric Recordings
• Reduces time spent by Test Engineers on clerical work
• Eliminates duplication of work & human error of computation
• Eliminates Log Entries by acquiring source data directly from test equipment
• Automatic verification of Calibration due dates
• Enforces Quality in terms of Standardisation, Test Procedures, Log Sheet Generation, Logging of discarded tests, etc.
• Automatic Billing based on the request, actual test conducted, number of times a test is repeated, discarding of test, number of applications, number of samples loaded, etc.
• Maintains high level of Security against un-authorised access, alteration of Test report, etc.
• Auto-debiting to Client's Ledger based on Bill
• User Defined Testing Procedures
• Ms Word Template driven Final Test Report formats
• Test Data Acquisition and Log Entry via Template Driven
• Transaction Tracking
• Optimising of Utilisation of Equipment & Manpower
• Generation of MIS reports
• Seamless Integration of various modules
• Paperless Office
• Supports divisional purchase and centralised purchase

Market Segment:

• Any testing laboratory
• Mini ERP for organizations without manufacturing component

Shortcomings:

• Do not have Accounting & HRD components. However, it has data integration capabilities.
• Customization may be required in some of the modules.