Why is it necessary? The cost of paper in the lab.
A significant number of laboratories in Türkiye still operate using a mix of ledgers, forms, and spreadsheets. This structure works when the laboratory is small; however, it silently collapses as the number of samples, clients, or regulatory burden increases. This collapse is usually noticed during an audit or a client complaint.
Symptoms
The whereabouts of the sample are unknown. To answer the question, "Has the result of this sample come out yet?", we would need to ask several people.
The result forgets the path it came from. A year later, it's impossible to find out which calibration and standard lot were used to produce that result.
An electronic spreadsheet is not considered evidence. A file whose formulas can be altered in front of an auditor, and whose alteration is unexplained and the time of the alteration, has no evidentiary value.
The analysis is performed with a device that has passed its calibration. Since the system does not issue a warning, it is only noticed during the next audit; all results produced until then are questioned.
The same task is written repeatedly. The results are manually entered into the ledger, table, report, certificate, and customer email separately; each entry carries the potential for error.
The chemical compatibility documents are outdated. The recipe changes, but the safety data sheet is not updated; the label continues to bear the old classification.
Audit preparation becomes a project. Records are collected and retrospective editing is done for weeks before accreditation or client audits.
The hidden cost
The cost of a laboratory is not limited to reagent consumption per analysis. The real cost is the time spent on repeated analyses, delayed batch releases, pending shipments, products that have become dead stock, and closing audit findings .
A two-day delay in the release of a batch due to laboratory issues can cost far more than the production cost; delayed delivery to the customer means goods sitting in the warehouse and tied-up working capital.
An additional cost in the chemical industry.
In the chemical industry, the cost of a paper lab is even higher: each new formulation trial means physical production, physical testing, and time. Learning a product's hazard class only after it has been produced and tested means repeated trials, repeated consumption of raw materials, and weeks of delay .
However, a significant portion of hazard classification can be determined by calculation, without any production, if the composition of the mixture is known. Chapter 19 of this document is devoted to this topic.
Basic principle
The goal of laboratory management is not to supervise the analyst, but to make the result defensible . A well-established system automatically generates the record while facilitating the analyst's work.