Tata Steel uses FHI LabAutomation event when selecting LIMS supplier

“Two years ago I attended the LabAutomation event for the first time, because we had a project coming up.” As an IT strategy man within Tata Steel, Kees de Haan was initially not a specialist in LIMS, Laboratory Information Management Systems. This spring, De Haan himself acted as a speaker during the 2017 edition of the LabAutomation industry event. His presentation, entitled 'LIMS in a digital company, requirements and selection', prompted a discussion between three Kees-heters, Kees de Haan, Kees Jansen from LIMS supplier Thermo Fisher Scientific and FHI-er Kees Groeneveld. The fact that a large steel factory is still operational in the Netherlands can be called a minor miracle from a historical perspective. There has never been much 'heavy industry' in our country and how often has the pressure been felt from forces in the market, in European politics and later from globalization. Just stop steel production here locally. Commitment to technology, in-house R&D, high-quality production, testing and analysis methods ensured that this piece of national pride remained intact. “We develop new types of steel that now help determine the design of cars. If you see certain 'creases' in the bodywork, it is not just because designers like it. We have ensured that you can now make such shapes affordably from our steel. Previously that was not possible at all.” Kees de Haan teaches. 'Tata Steel in Europe wants to become a Digital Master', was the title of slide number 10 in De Haan's presentation. It naturally fits seamlessly into the strategy that maintains the raison d'être of the factory in IJmuiden. Always at the forefront, especially when it comes to applying new technology in global steel production. Although originally an electrical engineer, Kees de Haan is not a man of 'hard' information technology. The interface between business and IT is his field of operations. “I started at Tata Steel in process control. I then became information manager for all kinds of different parts of the business process, supply chain, sales, purchasing. Sometimes I was part of the business unit, other times I worked from the IT department. That tactic tends to change quite often within a company like Tata Steel. That keeps you on your toes.” Kees Jansen can rightly call himself a 'LIMS specialist'. The originally chemical analyst has used the four letters in his job title since 1988 and has been within Thermo Fisher since 2001. Interviewer Kees didn't even know that LIMS software has been around for so long. “Initially there were two major players in this market, Beckman Coulter with 'Lab Systems' and Thermo Fisher with 'Sample Manager'. After the takeover by Thermo Fisher in 2000, Sample Manager was further developed and we support the still running Beckman systems from Thermo Fisher.” After the selection process, which De Haan described in his presentation, it turned out that Thermo Fisher's solution was evaluated as the most suitable. One factor was that a 'Sample Manager' system from Thermo Fisher had been running in the ceramic research lab of Tata Steel for more than ten years. “The project concerns the operational laboratories, directly related to steel production, a Product Analyzes Lab -AnaLab- and a Mechanical Testing Lab -TestingLab-. The AnaLab is a chemical lab and tests, for example, raw materials and the chemical composition of the steel during steel production. The latter has to do with adjusting the quality during the production process. So that has to happen very quickly. The TestingLab looks at all kinds of test plates of slabs and rolls of steel, both for normal production and for ottoman rolls that are related to product development. This form of offline testing means that products are blocked until the test results are known. We would ideally like to prevent this blockage by deriving the product quality from the process conditions. The technology of steel production has not yet reached that point.” Why a LIMS system and what is the difference with production automation? Kees de Haan is the man to explain that. “The production itself is primarily about reliable working and the availability of the production system. The processes are very different and different for the AnaLab and the AnaLab. For the AnaLab we also work with an internal webshop where departments within the company can request tests.” Kees Jansen tackles this complexity “by actually building two systems in one. Different systems with the same standard 'core'. That means more work for us.” “It is even more complex in an R&D lab,” says Kees de Haan. “There the different situations are much more varied and less standard, which makes being able to configure the workflow yourself even more important. Moreover, it is key for Tata Steel that test data from product development, trial production and normal production is stored for a long time in a way that makes it easy to analyze. For this reason we want to use the same system for all laboratories. After the current project, we will continue with the automation of our R&D lab.” Which technology development is recognizable within the LIMS world? “Ten years ago it was also necessary to program with LIMS packages. Now it's more configuring. The user can now do more himself, the interfaces have become simpler. Instead of coding, you are now configuring from the business workflow,” according to Jansen. “You create your solution 'on the fly',” is Kees de Haan's formulation. Do you need an IT workflow specialist for that? “If you as a business don't know that yourself... Look, the motto has been ever since the arrival of SAP 25 years ago; make systems fully configurable by a business specialist. If you can have the content usability specialist configure the right workflow, then that works best. I have good hope that this will now work with Thermo Fisher.” Why? “We paid close attention to this when selecting the system last year.” Jansen describes how the implementation works in practice. “We start by training the people of Tata Steel, first learning the jargon and then immediately afterwards a workshop to fine-tune the requirements. Then we build a prototype, create the workflow together, test, expand and test again. We do all this via agile scrum procedures, on which our people are trained.” Does it help that there is also Thermo Fisher equipment in the lab? “It doesn't really matter. Maybe they are a little easier to connect, but it hardly plays a role.” The expected benefits? “We can change things faster and more flexibly, management becomes easier, our operational reliability increases,” predicts Kees de Haan. Why was the workflow approach not chosen earlier? “Tata Steel was always at the forefront. When the IT market was not yet ready for it, we already built an IT landscape within which all systems are integrated. This now makes it complex to migrate to a new IT landscape.” The fact that Tata Steel has been working with a landscape approach for so long is paying off. The internal IT knowledge and experience is therefore at a high level. “This ultimately also benefits the supplier of the LIMS systems.” Actually, that is what every FHI company wishes for; a customer with expertise and if an industry activity such as the LabAutomation event can contribute a little to recognizing each other's professionalism, then that is a bonus.