Real-time reporting and monitoring is the delivery of continuously updated information streaming at zero or low latency. Real-time reporting of environmental conditions dates back to the 1830s.

Making Data Meaningful with Real-time Lab Monitoring

For life science organizations, real-time facility monitoring provides critical insight into equipment functionality and environmental conditions. This insight allows for deviations to be dealt with in a timely manner, ensuring that no catastrophic losses occur. An organization must have a holistic view of its facility and operations, recognizing the value in every stage of drug development. From early-stage R&D through process scale-up, continuous manufacturing, and commercialization. Regardless of the scientific vertical that an organization specializes in, a myriad of factors contribute to the collection of data and the scientific endeavor as a whole. It is critical that organizations aim for process improvement and through high-quality data.

XiltriX is a lab and facility monitoring system that is data-centric at its core. It was developed with the notion that organizations cannot improve or change what cannot be measured. Therefore, a core function of XiltriX is to be able to gather as much objective data as possible, giving organizations the necessary insight into their scientific and quality operations.

Making A Case For Objective Data

Objective data often reveals the ugly truth that the status quo isn't always perfect. It shines a light on gaps and errors that may have been previously overlooked. However, objective data also helps address issues before they can have adverse outcomes. Good science is based on data - and good, objective data drives innovation as well as improvements in procedures and quality.

This objective data means nothing, however, if an organization does not have the tools to make it meaningful. What is meaningful data? It’s dependent on what the organization hopes to achieve. Say that an experiment fails to achieve its goal; how does one go about root-cause analysis?

The first goal of someone engaging in root-cause analysis would be to determine what happened differently in the outlier outcome in comparison to previous outcomes. XiltriX allows you to overlay an unlimited number of graphs into one area, therefore allowing the deviation to be pinpointed with ease.

From this graph above, with multiple units overlaid, the operator can easily see any deviation to the storage of the sample (as this graph is for cold storage units), and begin to determine the cause of the issue. 

Once the deviation has been identified, the user can then isolate the specific unit and excursion by simply highlighting the area, as well as printing the graph and numerical values for the quality report. To help prove compliance, the reports will have both a timestamp and a signature box for the audit trail. 

Trending Stability Data and Improving Operations

Often, when searching for a monitoring system, organizations focus on Cold Storage (CS). However, while being a crucial part of operations, CS devices are not the only failure that can adversely affect outcomes of R&D and manufacturing, and therefore not the only parameters that need to be monitored.

The graph below has Carbon Dioxide and temperature overlaid on the same graph, especially helpful for incubators. The user is easily able to see the correlation between door openings (red lines) and the recovery of incubators. Correlations like this can be applied to a wide variety of facility and equipment conditions, helping organizations refine their processes and procedures, improving research repeatability and batch outcomes.

Trending stability data will allow facilities to implement procedures to ensure optimal environments for the best science, leading to reproducibility and manufacturing quality improvements. The most powerful tool any organization can have is data that is accessible and can be readily analyzed. 

Trending data can be applied to more than equipment functionality, it can be applied to environmental factors as well. Most organizations measure relative humidity and temperature in lab spaces and manufacturing lines. But what if your monitoring solution could do more than just that? What if your facility monitoring could track correlations between your HVAC system and the results of a specific manufacturing batch on a specific line?

A Bird’s-Eye View on Facility Monitoring

XiltriX aims to be an all-encompassing monitoring solution for organizations, providing a consultative service providing the data needed from a piece of equipment to overarching facility conditions. As seen in the graph below, temperature, pressure, and airflow are on the same graph, allowing operators to trend correlations between different parameters. A powerful tool for manufacturing, cleanrooms, and especially valuable when approaching science holistically.

XiltriX proactively addresses problems that may arise. This focus is why XiltriX continues to expand the sensor catalog that can be incorporated into the system. Differential pressure, VOCs, particle counting, light intensity, a variety of gases, and the list goes on. This is done to ensure that organizations can have the data they need to not only protect assets, but also to continue to improve and build on their science. 

Read more about Facility Monitoring in our eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Life Science Facility Monitoring