Cannabis testing is fundamental to ensuring the quality and safety of products in this rapidly growing industry. Within your lab environment, you face many challenges, from varying testing requirements across states to equipping your lab with the right analytical instruments and qualified professionals. Another critical aspect of cannabis testing is preparing individual samples and ensuring accurate data, which can be daunting. 

When it comes to chromatography, a significant amount of time is often spent on the preparation of samples. Within the final stages of your preparation, the manual process of printing and hand-applying labels or hand writing with a sharpie can be time-consuming, potentially slowing down laboratory workflows. The time spent on printing, peeling, and precisely applying labels manually is time that could be redirected towards more important tasks. Additionally, hand-labeling your samples increases the risk of errors, such as lost samples and data mix-ups, which can compromise the accuracy and reliability of your results.

There is a solution that not only reduces errors and saves time but also enhances data integrity—barcoding your samples can greatly improve operations within your cannabis testing lab.

The Power of Barcoded Vials

The first step toward enhancing sample identification begins with adding a unique identifier to each vial. By implementing a barcode as the unique identifier, laboratories can confidently trace the entire lifecycle of a sample, from its creation to analysis and storage. This digital fingerprint facilitates seamless tracking within a laboratory, standardizes data exchange, and promotes collaboration across systems and institutions. 

Here’s how barcoded vials can transform your lab:

• Improve Your Audit Trail: Implementing barcoded vials enables effortless tracking and precise documentation of each experiment step. This enhancement not only improves compliance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations but also enhances data quality and integrity.
• Streamlined Sequence Table Management: Reduce the risk of misloading samples in the autosampler rack and sequence table. By simply scanning the barcode and placing your samples in the tray, you can significantly decrease the potential for errors.
• Enhance Efficiency: Manual labeling is time-consuming and error prone. Barcoded vials streamline your workflow, allowing for faster processing times and reducing the risk of human error.

How to Integrate Barcoded Labware to Your Workflow

Integrating barcoded chromatography vials into your lab workflow or automated prep systems is seamless. Simply add a USB scanner to your equipment, and experience a continuous workflow from sample preparation to data management: 

1. Identify Samples in LIMS: Easily integrate barcoded data into your Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for streamlined data management.
2. Scan into Sequence Table: Use the USB scanner to scan vials into the sequence table, enhancing traceability and organization.
3. Load into Autosampler Rack: Place your pre-barcoded chromatography vials into the autosampler rack without the hassle of manual labeling.
4. Sample Prep with Confidence: Run your experiments with confidence, knowing that your samples are correctly located and identified.

Challenges of Manual Labeling

Adding a barcoded label to your chromatography vial ensures a reliable and traceable identifier. However, achieving the optimal positioning of labels on your vials take a high level of precision. In a field where accuracy is vital, the meticulous task of aligning labels becomes critical. The label must not only be placed in the correct position, but also without any wrinkles. This is especially crucial for instruments equipped with built-in scanners designed to read barcodes. A misaligned or wrinkled label can obstruct the scanner’s ability to accurately capture the barcode data, introducing the potential for errors in sample identification. 

Another challenge of manual labeling is preventing barcode duplicates, especially when multiple individuals in labs are involved in the printing process. Coordinating and managing sequences manually can lead to errors, potentially causing duplicate barcodes. This scenario not only compromises data integrity but also limits the smooth functioning of laboratory operations.

Outsourcing Label Application

To address these challenges and increase efficiency in your testing environments, labs should consider outsourcing their label application, such as Labware Prep™ Services by Computype. This alternative solution allows laboratories to remove the printing and application of labels inhouse.  By outsourcing this tedious process, you eliminate the prep work needed before testing and analysis, streamlining laboratory workflows and mitigating the risks of mislabeled or lost samples.  With this service, you can experience significant time, budget, staffing, and inventory savings.

Computype’s Labware Prep™ Services go beyond adding barcodes to your labware. Your labware arrives ready for immediate use, procured, custom-marked, prepared and packages to your specification. Your specific needs, combined with our barcode sequence management service, global account management, and strict quality standards ensure that you’ll be spending more time on scientific activities, and less time worrying about labware and labeling. Here’s how we can help:

• Labeling, Marking, and Sequence Management: Receive your labware pre-labeled to your specifications, including custom numbering and sequencing. Select from a variety of marking technologies designed to survive chemical and temperature exposure.
• Labware Procurement: Save time and money by outsourcing the procurement of consumable labware. We source containers according to your desired specifications and budget, ensuring you receive high-quality labware without the hassle.
• Tare Weighing: Free yourself to focus on the science while we handle the weighing. Each piece of labware is weighed to a tenth of a milligram, with an output file provided for easy reference. 

This service is a transformative solution for chromatography testing, offering a strategic advantage by combining efficiency, precision, and compatibility with automation. Laboratories leveraging these services experience not only enhanced operational efficiency but also the assurance of accurate and reliable results in their chromatography testing. 

Transform Your Research Environment

As the cannabis testing industry continues to grow and evolve, accurate sample management has never been more vital. By partnering with Computype, you can eliminate the inefficiencies of hand labeling and ensure your lab operates at peak productivity. Our Labware Prep™ Services provide the ultimate solution for enhancing your lab’s efficiency, accuracy, and compliance.

Eliminate the hassle of individually labeling each vial and let Computype transform your laboratory with the power of barcoding. Our experts are ready to assist you in streamlining your workflows and ensuring the highest standards of sample management. Contact Computype today to learn more about how our Labware Prep™ Services can benefit your lab.