While not a household name for consumers, Chr Hansen is well known in the dairy industry for its natural ingredient solutions such as dairy cultures and enzymes, which are used in products ranging from cheese and milk to ice cream.
Its business is complex, and, like other companies involved in the dairy industry, Chr Hansen faces strict regulations internationally as well as increasing consumer scrutiny of food safety and quality overall. To meet demands for quality, compliance and future growth, Chr Hansen manages its processes assiduously. To meet these challenges, the company relies on a an advanced laboratory information management system (LIMS). Like the company’s products, the LIMS may go unnoticed to many, but its impact is immeasurable.
Leadership in any industry, especially the dairy industry, requires adherence to self-imposed and government mandated safety and quality regulations. In 2011, for example, the US Food and Drug Administration passed the Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA) by building in strict, new requirements to address risks throughout a product’s life cycle, from procurement of raw material through production and distribution. Likewise, Chr Hansen is subject to equally rigorous European Union (EU) directives that define quality and safety requirements throughout the production process. These two examples highlight the challenges facing global organisations such as Chr Hansen. Any multinational producer is subject to many different regional controls and regulations, and so maintaining the highest standards represents the most straightforward approach for achieving compliance.
Chr Hansen implemented Thermo Scienti?c SampleManager LIMS to manage quality control in starter culture production at the company’s Danish facility. The company needed a laboratory data management system to ensure quality control, but since the system would be operated by staff with varying levels of expertise, it also needed an easy-to-use solution that required no specialised knowledge.
Finally, the system also needed to enable information sharing enterprise-wide via the web, from sample login and test assignment through to test information and reporting.
Other requirements for the LIMS included full automation capabilities, secure access control and seamless integration with the company’s existing ERP system. All of this, it turns out, was possible with SampleManager LIMS.
For Chr Hansen, LIMS is much more than a laboratory data system. Among the considerable benefits of the new solution are:
By standardising SampleManager LIMS across its six culture production sites in Denmark, France, Germany and the US, the company has achieved the level of quality demanded of any international enterprise involved in the dairy industry.
Enterprise-wide standardisation has also increased productivity, improved information sharing and accelerated sample processing. All this has not only helped Chr Hansen’s labs maintain its stellar reputation, it has also positioned the company to meet future regulatory challenges and to grow.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024