70 sites in the world : a successful LIMS Core Model approach

Leader in sustainable mobility

Our Client is a multinational industrial company employing more than 100 000 people in 17 countries, and is a major global player in sustainable mobility.
For several years, SPC has accompanied this Client and has notably been very much involved in the choice, implementation, deployment and the ensured continued operation of a computer-based laboratory management solution (LIMS) common to a very wide number of sites throughout the world.

The CORE MODEL solution

Our client wanted a common tool to manage the quality of their raw materials in more than 70 factories in the world.

The challenges for our client are to standardize control practices, share the suppliers’ evaluations worldwide, control the quality of each raw material using a unique reference, improve the activities of the laboratories based on the norms from the automobile sector, etc.
The great challenges for the core team were to align the processes, harmonize the data, manage the 17 languages and design a centralized single-instance application which allows 250 users simultaneously and more than 22 000 samples analyzed per year!

The STARLIMS solution, its Manufacturing dictionary and AGILE

A market study and detailed preliminary study helped convince our Client to choose the STARLIMS (Abbott Informatics) LIMS solution equipped with its own Manufacturing dictionary.

Implemented and based on a CASCADE mode, then in AGILE for the following releases, the single-instance solution was able to take into account the generic needs via a common « repository » and optional activation of the local specificities for certain laboratories using a local version of this « repository ».
Validation within the scope of the pilot enabled the SPC team to provide the deployment kit, give training sessions to the client’s teams, accompany these teams all along the deployment phase and ensure continued operation using a technically functional, relevant and efficient support.

Deployed on 70 sites!

This application was used in production on the pilot site for 8 years before being deployed throughout the world for a period of 4 years. Today, the application is deployed over 70 sites and gives full satisfaction to the users.

A programme for managing developments and release upgrades has been set up to ensure durability and operational relevance. It is clear that the CORE MODEL approach, which is widely used, is a guarantee of application maintainability and has greatly facilitated numerous release upgrades covering a wide range of functions and for a significant number of sites.
Our Client has had confidence in us for more than 10 years, in this and other high added value projects.