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The use of practically oriented automation technology that frees employees from monotonous activities and eliminates sources of error will therefore become unavoidable in modern laboratories. An automatic sample transport system ideally transports the samples directly to the appropriate analysis system and, while doing so, performs other tasks along the way: following delivery, the sample identification can be used to plan and optimise the route through the laboratory, whereby many parameters can be taken into account, e.g., the type of container, the preparation, the filling level and, of course, the sequence of the individual analysis steps. For the duration of the analysis and the evaluation, all samples currently to be processed should then remain accessible, i.e., several hundred samples are ideally underway in the distribution system simultaneously. Analyses can then be quickly repeated or additional analyses performed and any subsequently necessary assessments undertaken. Upon completion of the analysis, the samples should be automatically ejected, disposed of following a storage period of a couple of days or, if necessary, transferred to a suitable container for long-term archiving.Thus, the requirements placed on an automatic sample distribution system are high – not only with respect to capacity and reliability – but particularly in terms of flexibility, and that in two ways: the distribution system must be able to handle alternating tasks and changes to the workflow. It must also be easily expandable so that, e.g., new or modified analysis devices can be integrated even at a later point in time without considerable effort. With the development of the lab.sms® fully automatic sample distribution system, GLP Systems has demonstrated that these requirements can be met today. It transports each sample (specimen) separately, as this is the only way to achieve flexible, custom, and optimum organization of individual samples. Thus, it differs fundamentally from systems that transport racks with five or ten specimens.
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