Solve Laboratory Staff Shortages – 3 Essential Steps to Ensuring Quality Assurance for the Future
Delivery delays, production losses or worldwide recalls—the consequences of bottlenecks in quality control can quickly have far-reaching effects on your business. A well-functioning quality assurance program is crucial for any organization. Shortages in skilled labor, employee turnover, or high absence rates among workers due to illness are among the biggest challenges faced by laboratory or QA managers. In this white paper, we present the necessary steps to guarantee optimal quality assurance with limited personnel resources.
Identify key positions – prioritize personnel tasks
Depending on the industry or production sector, more than twenty different testing instruments, machines, and systems can be used for quality assurance purposes. If we include pre-testing tasks, such as specimen preparation that are required for quality control processes, the number of machine and device options increases even further. For example, a typical testing laboratory in the plastics processing industry uses systems for various testing methods:
- Mechanical testing
- Microscopic analysis
- Spectroscopy
- Thermal analysis
- Rheometric analysis
- Physical analysis
Depending on the testing or analysis method and manufacturer, these instruments require different levels of operator training. Machine operation can often be elaborate, and in addition a specialist, usually someone with a high level of experience, must also be able to directly assess the test results. In these cases, it may be worthwhile to investigate for which machines or instruments operation can be simplified so that they can be easily used by less experienced or new personnel. For example, ZwickRoell testXpert testing software guarantees simple operation based on a sophisticated user management program. The user only sees relevant operational controls, which enables them to start testing immediately. With the use of predefined test programs, all important parameters and test sequences that are required for standard-compliant testing are pre-configured. The testXpert system configuration guarantees consistently identical machine test conditions for tests that are performed on another day or by another user. This helps prevent testing under inadequate conditions and entering incorrect information, and onboarding requirements for new employees are reduced to a minimum. A new user can be ready to, for example, operate a universal testing machine for a plastics tensile test to ISO 527 or ASTM D638, after an instructional period of approximately 1-2 hours. Intelligent software features and mechanical support tools such as insertion aids for specimens or automatically attaching extensometers facilitate tasks that would otherwise have to be manually performed on the machine—even for new or inexperienced personnel. In addition, testXpert provides the highest level of safety for both the user and the testing system.
Digitalize processes – save time and increase safety
Digitalization has taken on significant momentum in recent years, affecting processes across many industries. This includes the field of materials testing, where the use of digital technologies has greatly increased process efficiencies. Have a look at your existing systems. It may be time to consider taking advantage of the many available, and nowadays affordable, digital possibilities.
- Save time: with the use of digital technologies, testing processes can be automated and accelerated. Time-consuming manual tasks are replaced with digital solutions, leading to shorter test times.
For example, 50% of the time required to manually measure specimens using calipers and entering the information into the system can be saved through automated transfer of the specimen dimensions to the testing software (e.g., via the micrometer screw, cross-section measuring device). - Maximize accuracy: digitalized testing processes increase precision and accuracy by eliminating sources of human error. In the above-mentioned example, you not only save time, but the scatter of test results caused by incorrect measurements of the specimen dimensions is significantly reduced.
- Automate data management: with digital storage of the test results, data is easily managed and evaluated. This makes it easier to monitor and analyze trends and possible errors or defects. When it comes to big data, the topic of data management will also continue to gain importance in quality assurance. With an automated export of the test results into a QA system by means of diverse standard interfaces within testXpert, employees are relieved of this task. In addition to saving time and having access to data in real time, this feature eliminates manual data transfer, an additional source of possible errors.
- Take advantage of pre-configured analysis programs: through centralized availability of all test results, you have access to pre-designed analysis formats. It is no longer necessary to export data to Excel, merge it manually and subsequently analyze it. Preset analyses can be immediately accessed in testXpert. This again saves time and reduces errors.
- Improve collaborative decision-making: digitalization allows you to access test results from anywhere, facilitating collaboration and decision-making efforts.
Leverage automation for repeatable tasks
In many areas of the world, economically developed countries are faced with sparse labor markets, a situation that will likely not subside in the near future. This includes employee shortages in testing laboratories. Today, many businesses are in a situation where consistent automation of a wide range of QA processes is and remains the most important lever for counteracting the lack of qualified laboratory personnel. Materials testing, in particular, with its strictly defined testing standards, offers an ideal business model for the automation of testing processes. The fact that you can make a virtue out of necessity, and benefit from further advantages, must not be disregarded.
- Increase accuracy and avoid errors: automated systems are less susceptible to human error and can achieve a higher level of accuracy when monitoring processes and results. One example is the scatter of test results, which with the use of a fully automated testing system such as a universal testing machine with automated specimen feeding system, is reduced by approximately 5% when compared to a similar setup with manual operation.
Through automated functions, errors can also be minimized at the points of data entry, processing, and analysis, ensuring that decisions are always based on precise and reliable data. For example, running a test on testXpert requires less than 5 mouse clicks or screen touches, without the need for manual data entry. - Increase efficiency: automated systems work faster and more efficiently than human testers, accelerating processes and increasing productivity. When performing a tensile test, it takes up to 35% less time with a semi-automated machine — automated specimen measurement, specimen grip, extensometer, and software functions — when compared to a manually operated machine. In an 8-hour workday, this saves operators close to 3 hours and scarce or skilled workers are free to attend to other important tasks.
- Save on costs: a positive side effect of an automated solution is saving costs by saving time and resources that would otherwise be used to perform manual tasks. Automation solutions are often accompanied by a stigma of high expense, which is in turn associated with a low return on investment and leads companies to question its efficiency and of course the feasibility of making the investment. There is no doubt that a machine with full or partial automation is more expensive than a manual version. However, with rapidly rising labor costs or costs incurred when laboratory services are outsourced, automation often pays off much faster than you think. For example, the ROI for 90% of ZwickRoell’s full automation systems is less than 24 months. With the help of an intelligent calculator that takes all factors into account, ROI can be calculated individually for all test applications and scenarios.
- Monitor processes and analyze data in real time: automated systems can monitor processes as they occur, allowing you to quickly react to discrepancies or abnormalities and take appropriate corrective action. At the same time, large amounts of data can be analyzed quickly and efficiently to identify trends and patterns that are crucial for quality assurance purposes. In addition to test data, you can also manage and evaluate machine data. To top it all off, our Condition Monitoring feature provides brand new possibilities for predictive maintenance.
