Over 60 delegates gathered at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire England on 21 July 2004 for Central Laboratories's annual NIR Calibration conference
The delegates, users and potential users of Central Laboratories's Specman Gold NIR calibrations, were given details of the latest update and modifications to this suite of software.
The conference was also given presentations by flour millers Allied Mills and specialist pet food manufacturer James Wellbelove on their companies' usage of Specman calibrations in raw materials and finished product quality control and assurance.
Designed for use on all makes of scanning, FT, filter and other types of NIR spectrophotometers, Specman calibrations have been developed also in association with ATC specifically for the grain and milling industries.
The latest version of Specman Gold provides users with a considerable range of new features and facilities designed to further simplify operating procedures and import and record greater volumes of statistical data.
In addition, reflecting the growing international use of the calibrations, the Main Menu now contains a dedicated module enabling users to change the language on all forms and import/export native languages to CSV.
"The new updates and modifications that we have introduced have been based on the requirements of our many customers and add to the applications for which they can use NIR spectroscopy," says Chris Piotrowski, director Central Laboratories.
"Our philosophy is to involve all our customers in the development of the Specman package, thereby giving ownership to laboratory personnel involved in QA and QC.
"The 2004 conference provided a forum in which users could voice their thoughts and discuss experience of working with Specman calibrations in their laboratories". NIR spectroscopy is now widely used throughout the international milling, grain and feed industries for measuring moisture, protein, ash, fat, fibre, minerals and starch and other nutritional values in both finished products and associated raw materials.
Central Laboratories's Specman Gold uses a single calibration where one equation can be employed to monitor any feed product or raw material being tested.
Regression software used to generate the calibrations produces equations that give a line of best fit.
Basically, Specman applies cluster bias values to NIR data and stores the final result in a data base which has the ability to compare results against known values, ie, it applies quality control rules to the NIR data, follows trends in the data and produces reports for operation and technical staff. Central Laboratories claims to have one of the largest calibration databases in the world, numbering several tens of thousands of samples covering the widest possible range of materials with seasonal and geographical variations.
All reference chemistry is performed in the Central Laboratories headquarters in Banbury, Oxfordshire to ISO 17025.
Such is the robust nature and reliability of the calibrations that these have also been given Ukas approval.
