A chemometric tool for computer-aided decision making in analytical laboratory management

One of the tasks of management in analytical laboratories is the scheduling of analyses and the organization of the laboratory resources with respect to the workload. By a simulation of the laboratory operations, one can describe and eventually forecast the magnitude of the sample backlog and result delays with respect to the followed strategy to schedule samples and resources. However the design and validation of a simulation model is a lengthy and expensive task, requiring the help of a specialist in the area of operations research. In this paper an expert system is described that guides the laboratory manager through the various stages of the model design. The output of the expert system is a simulation model written in program code (SIMULA) that after compilation can be used to simulate the laboratory.