Industry: Environmental Testing

Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Website: www.gcal.com 

Customer Profile: Gulf Coast Analytical Laboratories is the largest privately-held environmental laboratory in Louisiana. GCAL performs analytical testing on soil, water, air, waste and biological samples for numerous Fortune 500 companies, is certified in several states and validated by the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE).

Business Situation: With an increasing need to provide faster turnaround time and superior deliverables (both hardcopy reports and electronic data), GCAL needed a technology upgrade. A new LIMS was necessary to address the most demanding requirements of the USACE and other high profile accounts.

The Solution: After a rigorous evaluation process, GCAL selected ChemWare’s HORIZON LIMS in December 2000. Key to the decision was identifying the most complete commercial off-the-shelf LIMS — a mature, stable system requiring the least customization. GCAL needed a LIMS that was flexible enough to handle ever-changing business rules and client demands, and capable of being extended without impacting source code. HORIZON offered an all-in-one solution that could efficiently manage the entire operation, from sample login to report generation and invoicing. A web-based data repository provided secure client access to sample status and analytical data via the Internet.

"The new functionality… exceeded all expectations. We realized huge productivity gains within the first year of implementing HORIZON LIMS."

Productivity Savings: The successful implementation of HORIZON LIMS has also enabled GCAL to reallocate five (5) full time equivalent (FTE) employees to other, value-added functions within the company. The following is a summary breakdown of savings by laboratory section:

Instrument Integration (1.5 FTE)- Analytical sequences and sample IDs are downloaded directly to the instruments after the batch is created; results are automatically uploaded with full results calculation.

QC Review (0.5 FTE)– Automated review of all batch data, with significant improvement in meeting client data quality objectives.

Dynamic QC (1.0 FTE)– The analyst only has to post the QC data once, even though a batch may contain samples run under different test methods.

Level 4 and CLP Deliverables (0.5 FTE)– Automated report production resulting in a more efficient process and consistent product.

EDD Generation (0.5 FTE)– Automated generation of electronic deliverables, reducing time to develop the most complex EDDs from 30 days to 2 days, and shifting function from IS manager to project managers.

Automated Login (1.0 FTE)– The ability to pre-define complex project requirements has greatly simplified and expedited the login process.