Development of Maturity Model on a Commercial Accredited Chemical Testing Laboratory in Malaysia

Abstract

A Maturity Model (MM) is needed to improve and operate globally. Even though a laboratory has been accredited for more than 20 years but no evidence to prove that the system was mature for competing internationally. Many commercial laboratories were business-oriented companies; MM was supposed to be used to measure the success of their processes and management styles. The improvement was based on 4M (Manpower, Method, Machine, Material) to enhance the operations and help understand the different maturity levels and how MM can benefit the organisation. The MM was developed based on analytes accurate certain score (AACS) for the ten most routine testing and system maturity scores (SMS), which cover overall proficiency testing performance and audit/assessment scores for the recent two cycles. The models do not fix inefficiencies; they can identify areas where organisations are not operating at standard and allow them to determine strategies to improve their operations and processes. This study was based on a commercial laboratory named ABC (not a real name), which was accredited in early 1990 and went through 8 cycles of assessments. The maturity model was applied to this laboratory and fell in the “leading” level with a total score above 80%. However, improvement is needed for better development, which are 1. Manpower: maintain competent staff by changing the management’s strategy. 2. Method: validate all the in-house methods following Analytical Laboratory Accreditation Criteria Committee (ALACC) guidelines. 3. Machine: apply good laboratory practice (GLP) for equipment sharing, specifically the equipment for a specific analyte. 4. Material: Metrological traceable reference material (RM) needed, involvement Proficiency Testing (PT) in all analytes.