LIMS System Implemented and Extended for Chemical Company

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc recently announced that Eastman Chemical Company, a large global manufacturer of chemicals, fibers and plastics, has expanded its deployment of Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS, which it has used since 2000 in its manufacturing quality control laboratories, to its Corporate Technology Analytical Laboratories. For the implementation, Eastman Chemical Company chose an enterprise level solution set, which enables the LIMS to be fully integrated with the laboratory’s instruments and with other proprietary databases and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems across the organisation. Eastman Chemical Company manufactures chemicals, fibers and plastics materials used by its customers to make common consumer products. The company is the first manufacturer in the U.S. to develop and commercialise technology that derives chemicals from coal rather than petroleum. With 2010 sales revenue of $5.8 billion, the company has 13 major manufacturing facilities around the world.

Eastman Chemical Company selected Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS for its ability to operate a certified
interface with SAP, and the system has integrated seamlessly with it since implementation. Based on the successful deployment of SampleManager LIMS at its quality control laboratories across 13 sites in eight countries, Eastman Chemical extended the LIMS implementation to its Corporate Technology Analytical Laboratories, located at its Tennessee headquarters.

“The Technology division selected Thermo Scientific SampleManager because it was easy to use and could be easily configured and managed in-house at Eastman Chemical,” said James Watson, Systems Analyst at Eastman Chemical Company. “We have reduced costs by eliminating paper reports, working electronically and involving sample submitters in the process by giving them access to results in real-time. LIMS standardisation is the solution required in today’s high throughput analytical laboratories.”

To achieve optimal quality control, Eastman Chemical needed a coherent strategy that would integrate data between the LIMS, ERP multiple instruments and ELNs (electronic laboratory notebooks) across the enterprise. “The overall integration of our connected informatics solutions provides a seamless and secure quality control environment at Eastman Chemical Company,” added James Watson.