ARTEL Automates Pipette Calibration Management

To reduce the risk of human error and enhance efficiency, ARTEL has upgraded its PCS®plus (Pipette Calibration System) with new automation capabilities, streamlining laboratory pipette calibration management. Given the critical need for data accuracy and precision and the consequences of malfunctioning liquid delivery devices, regular pipette calibration is mandatory, yet the shortage of trained laboratory technicians stretches resources thin. Launched by liquid delivery quality assurance leader ARTEL (Westbrook, ME), PCSplus’ new features optimize the calibration process, facilitate compliance and help laboratories ensure data integrity. ARTEL will announce these PCSplus enhancements at a press conference today at the AACC 2006 Annual Meeting/Clinical Lab Expo in Chicago, IL.

Keeping track of pipettes and ensuring that they are properly calibrated can prove to be significant barriers to laboratory efficiency. ARTEL’s enhanced PCSplus reduces human transcription error and speeds up calibration by relying on several unique components: proprietary software, a barcode scanner and a laboratory-qualified printer. Affixing barcode labels with identification numbers to each pipette and scanning these labels prior to beginning the calibration process eliminate the need for manual tracking of calibration.

These new components add to the efficiency realized by the robust and portable PCSplus, which automatically calculates and documents calibration results. Based on Ratiometric PhotometryTM, using two dyes to measure liquid volumes, the standardized PCSplus verifies delivered volumes in minutes. If the PCSplus verifies that the pipette is performing within laboratory-specific tolerances, a label can be immediately printed with the pipette ID number, technician’s name and calibration date, indicating that the pipette is in good working order. To maintain legibility in harsh laboratory environments, labels provided by ARTEL are resistant to solvents and water.

With the PCSplus’ new capabilities, laboratories will also be able to generate trend reports to understand how a pipette is performing over time. A pipette identified as trending out of tolerance can be removed from circulation, allowing laboratories to detect errors before they occur. This will reduce downtime, costly remedial action and possible liabilities. In addition, the upgraded PCSplus maintains competency assessment records and trend reports of the pipetting skill levels of laboratory technicians. This feature can be utilized to build and ensure proper pipetting technique to further strengthen accuracy and precision in the laboratory.

“Automation has permeated many aspects of modern laboratories,” notes Kirby Pilcher, President of ARTEL. “But until now, pipette calibration was largely managed manually. Now, our customers can eliminate risk and inconvenience in calibration, focus resources on their critical laboratory tasks and strengthen data quality.”