When a successful chemical manufacturing company decided to change its titration process from manual to automated, it had little idea what impact it would have on the company
Reagent is a family run business based in Runcorn, Cheshire.
For over 25 years it has been manufacturing and supplying high quality chemicals to a variety of industries including pharmaceutical, chemical distribution and power generation.
Although its core business is manufacturing analytical and laboratory reagents, the company also provides bespoke chemical manufacturing, sub contract manufacturing and repacking services.
Reagent's success stems from the personalised and dedicated service it provides to its customers, tailoring many products to precise specifications and formulations.
Thanks to specialist manufacturing facilities it can produce a wide range of solutions, from ampoules and sachets to 1000 litre IBCs.
Its customer base includes a number of market leaders such as Ineos, Shell, VWR, Coca-Cola, BNFL and AstraZeneca.
The company, which employs 25 highly experienced and qualified staff, is accredited with ISO 9001:2000 and Investors In People with the aim of achieving other relevant certifications including Environmental Standard BS8555.
Reagent's management team has efficiency at the forefront of the company's strategy recognising it as essential to the future success of its business.
The quality controller at Reagent, Charlie Screawn, holds responsibility for testing finished products.
Titration plays a key role in sample testing at Reagent, and although manual tests provided good levels of accuracy, they were labour intensive and time consuming.
There was also no means of ensuring total consistency in analyses between different chemists, often duplicating analyses for improved confidence and no means to capture the data automatically.
Screawn recognised the need for an autotitrator and researched a number of suppliers that could supply suitable equipment.
He explained that because of the professionalism, integrity and enormous support provided during the decision-making process, Mettler Toledo was chosen as the preferred supplier.
"It's great kit, a great package and there's great support available if we need it".
As part of the initial consultation, Mettler Toledo provided an on site demonstration, as well as offering references to demonstrate the advantages of automation and performing some analyses in their UK applications laboratory.
The 'icing on the cake' was a short trial period, to experience first hand the on site benefits of using an autotitrator.
Through this process, Screawn was able to see the benefits of automation and the immediate advantages the proposed system would offer to Reagent.
A full day installation and training session was provided on site at Reagent and Charlie attended a general titration training course at Mettler Toledo's office in Leicester.
By sharing ideas with other customers on the course, he was able to see the benefits of using an autotitrator with LabX data capture software.
"The LabX software is a great tool for controlling and storing data.
"It allows us to work within our tight limits, and provides us with secure, traceable, auditable results.
"We can instantly see any problems that may occur thanks to the SQC curves".
The SQC curves on LabX demonstrate the power of the system (accuracies of less than 0.1% relative standard deviation) and the consistent quality of Reagent's solutions.
The addition of the autotitrator means that multiple repeat analysis are possible.
The system provides reliability, consistency and accuracy to +/-0.05%.
Now, Reagent regularly performs repeat quadruple analysis to demonstrate their accurate and precise practices to its customers.
Richard Hudson, a director of Reagent, has been very satisfied with the equipment and the impact it has had within the company: "Being a smaller organisation, we have already seen a significant effect on our company.
"To quantify the impact of the autotitrator, we have calculated the amount of time we are saving - over 10 weeks in man hours a year - and for a company of this size, that's a considerable time saving.
"We are seeing a knock-on effect of improved efficiency at all levels throughout the business as a consequence of the Autotitrator.
"We have been able to focus this additional time in more vigorous checks to our processes which has resulted in improved delivery performance and fewer customer complaints.
"Obviously it won't take long for the Autotitrator to pay for itself.
"Plus, we have the capacity to potentially double our throughput for this kind of testing".
He added that customers were already experiencing faster delivery times.
"The knock-on effect of time saving means that we are able to react quicker to our customers' requirements.
"By increasing our accuracy and efficiency, we predict further improvements that can only have a positive effect on the company, our customers and therefore the bottom line."
