The GBA Group is one of Europe’s leading analytical laboratories and service providers. Its core competencies lie in the fields of environmental, food, consumer goods and pharmaceutical analysis. The GBA Group provides analytical and chemical services such as sampling and testing of food and raw materials, soil, water, drinking water, recycled materials, waste and air on behalf of industry, manufacturers, importers, engineering firms, municipal clients and the waste management industry.
The company is represented at 14 locations in Germany and Austria and employs around 600 people. In order to optimize project-related internal communication at its locations, the GBA Group was looking for a modern IT solution beyond e-mails, electronic newsletters or company magazines. Easy to communicate and quick, direct and simple to consume, this was what process-relevant information should look like in future.
“Further discussions also revealed site-specific requirements”, explains Sandra Schubert, Process Optimization, GBA Group. “The Pinneberg site was looking for a way of transporting information on samples and equipment more quickly from the laboratory or site manager to the laboratory staff. For example, we often receive urgent samples that require immediate processing. Up to now, in such a case the responsible employees had to be informed via different channels: Some in person, some by telephone, some by e-mail. Another example is information about laboratory equipment, for example in the event of a device failure that leads to process delays. Here too, various colleagues must be informed as quickly as possible. We wanted to find an IT-based solution with which different information can be communicated visually more quickly, directly and reliably. As a pilot project, the laboratory information should be visualized at the Pinneberg site”.
Schubert found what he was looking for at the Hannover Messe:
“I was at the Peakboard stand and knew that this was the solution for us.”
The all-in-one solution enables the visualization of any data on any monitor.
Peakboard includes all necessary components for data aggregation from various sources, such as Laboratory Information and Management Systems (LIMS) and real-time visualization. Since Peakboard visualizes the data autonomously, no central server is required. The complete Peakboard technology sits in a smartphone-small aluminum box – a combination of hardware and software with an integrated WLAN module.
“I liked how secure, powerful and easy Peakboard is,” says Schubert.
Kevin Jörgens, systems engineer at GBA Group, was also quickly convinced:
“For me, another positive aspect was the option of data source connection”.
Schubert continues:
“We got in touch with Peakboard and took part in a webinar to get more detailed information and ordered a free trial”. Peakboard also passed the live test with flying colors.
“We were able to create some dashboards via the Peakboard Designer without much effort and then travelled to Pinneberg with the Peakboard Box and a standard monitor to present the solution. The staff there were immediately enthusiastic, especially because creating the dashboards is so easy,” Schubert reports.
Four Peakboard Boxes are in use at the Pinneberg site. They are used by around 70 employees. The monitors are installed on the three floors of the company building.
“We have installed a Peakboard Box in the sample preparation. This is where the sample control is done,” explains Jörgens. Another Peakboard Box was installed at the terminal of the electronic time recording system.
“Every employee has to pass it several times a day, so the space is ideal for collecting information ‘in passing’,”
Schubert explains. Two further Peakboard Boxes are attached to the measuring devices on two different floors.
Location-specific information relevant to the management of work processes is displayed: For example, device failures and notified repair time windows or urgent notices when there is a change in the processing of an order. In addition, general information is communicated, such as appointments for visits from customers or other external parties. Three colleagues from laboratory organization and management have installed the Peakboard Designer on their workstations. They fill the dashboards manually via a defined input mask with necessary information such as order numbers, parameters and delivery dates etc.
The GBA Group is more than just satisfied with the solution:
“I have never experienced better support from an IT partner,” Schubert emphasizes. “From the beginning of the webinar until today, we have been in constant contact. We usually receive a response to enquiries on the same day, at the latest after 24 hours. If we make suggestions that are relatively easy to implement, they will be implemented with the next update at the latest. And with further ideas we also run into open arms, so to speak.”
The rollout of the solution to other locations should take place within twelve months. On the one hand, site-specific laboratory information will be mapped. On the other hand, cross-company topics will be visualized on screens in the break rooms or canteens – for example, news on the company’s development, projects in the individual departments, information on the works council, new colleagues introduced with pictures, etc. A Welcome Dashboard is also planned to welcome guests. Around 25 further Peakboard Boxes are being considered.
Furthermore, the dashboards will be filled with data automatically in the future, and initial discussions with the in-house development department are already underway.
