Lionel MURAT
Lionel is co-founder of CIKLab. Former quality control manager with expertise in third-party food testing and laboratory management.
Food Quality Control Software: Why you must choose CIKLab now ?
- Lionel MURAT
You work in food quality control and you’re still using Excel to manage all your testing analyses? I get it. I did that for years before creating CIKLab. And I know exactly what you’re dealing with on a daily basis.
Today, I’m going to explain why we developed CIKLab and how it can transform your quality control management, a real field experience.
Sommaire
- 1) What exactly is CIKLab?
- 2) Why CIKLab is an essential solution for food quality control
- 3) Who is CIKLab designed for ?
- 4) How does CIKLab integrate into your daily routine?
- 5) What are the benefits of CIKLab?
- 6) My take on CIKLab
- 7) Conclusion: CIKLab, food quality control software designed for your reality
What exactly is CIKLab ?
CIKLab is a SaaS food quality control software designed to manage all your testing operations, from product and supplier monitoring plans to certificate of analysis (CoA) generation, including complete batch and analysis management.
The story behind CIKLab
When I was a quality control manager in the food industry, I spent countless hours every week juggling:
- Excel files for my control plans
- Other Excel files to track my external and internal analyses
- Excel files to track laboratory analytical quotes
- PDF files poorly organized somewhere in the network folder structure
- Certificates of analysis to write, modify, and save manually
One day, while talking with colleagues, I realized I wasn’t the only one struggling: many quality and control managers were experiencing the same thing. There simply wasn’t a truly adapted solution—between lab-wired LIMS and ERPs not designed for operational quality control management, we were all improvising.
When I did the math, I realized we were wasting enormous amounts of time creating, modifying, and managing dozens of Excel files trying to stay organized and anticipate problems as best we could.
That’s when the idea for CIKLab was born.
The problem with managing quality control using Excel ?
Don’t get me wrong, my partner and I often say this, Excel is an amazing tool! Who could claim otherwise? But it’s not a management tool, and certainly not for handling all dimensions of food quality control.
Excel can quickly show its limitations:
- No data centralization
- Difficult to enter multiple dimensions and link different files
- Risk of data entry errors
- Difficult information sharing with the team
- Impossible for multiple people to work on the same file
- No reliable data history
Real-life example: One of our clients now using CIKLab told us that someone in the company had developed a great Excel system with many file linkages and macros to make the process smooth, but after that person left and with Excel updates, the system “crashed”—no one was able to get it working again.
Why CIKLab is an essential software for food quality control !
1) An application designed for users
CIKLab wasn’t developed by IT professionals. It was designed and conceived by quality managers who understand the organization and constraints of the field.
The result? An interface where you find information in 2 clicks maximum. No need to open a cascade of windows to access info, no need for 3 days of training to understand how it works.
When you create a batch, everything is there:
- Tests to perform and frequencies
- Methods to use
- Laboratories to contact
- Analysis and release deadlines
- Results history
Our experience: Our new users are autonomous in less than an hour. Because the interface matches their way of working, not the other way around.
2) Very simple implementation and dedicated support
Implementing new software is very impactful! And it can be a real source of anxiety. “What if I made a mistake? What if it doesn’t work? And training the team?”
At CIKLab, we support you from start to finish:
- You first test the application free for 15 days with us, the goal: getting comfortable with the tool
- Then you test in production conditions for 1 month
- We support you in creating your first control plans and configuration
- Nothing to install on your servers, no long and tedious setup
- CIKLab works with a monthly subscription, cancelable, no hidden costs, no onsite consultants, no multi-thousand dollar projects
- An internet connection and login credentials, and you start the same day!
In practice: A new client is operational in less than 2 weeks. And we remain available afterward to support you during adoption.
Control plans are the backbone of a quality department.
No coherent batch and manufacturing management is possible without effective planning. In practice in the industry, these are actually hundreds of control plans and specifications to manage, maintain, and keep up to date.
With CIKLab, you create your control plan once, and the software does the rest.
Practical example: You manufacture a dietary supplement that requires:
- Microbiological analyses every batch
- Active ingredient testing every 3 batches
- Substances to monitor every month
- Systematic botanical identification
- Contaminant testing every 6 months for some, every year for others
You set this up once in CIKLab using inspection templates. With each new batch, the application automatically tells you which analyses to order based on frequencies. No more wondering “when’s the next heavy metals analysis again?” “What were the last results?”
The benefit: You never miss an analysis again, you save considerable time on planning, and you access dates and results history in real time. CIKLab perfectly addresses chapter 2.5.9 of FSSC 22000.
4) Centralized management of your third-party laboratories
This is clearly something other software struggles to handle, yet outsourcing analyses is essential in food testing. All food, ingredient, cosmetic, and dietary supplement manufacturers outsource a very large portion of analyses.
And that’s where it gets complicated:
- One or two labs for microbiology
- A third and fourth for active ingredient testing, for botanical identification
- Several for contaminants
- Each with their own customer portal, methods, turnaround times, pricing
CIKLab centralizes and simplifies all that:
- All your laboratories in a single database
- Analyses and methods are available for each lab
- Prices and turnaround times are visible, accessible, and can be tracked
- History of your orders is available along with indicators
- You track all your outsourced analyses on ONE automated interface
Real case: Many of our clients work with about ten different laboratories. Before CIKLab, they lost hours per week checking prices on quotes, verifying methods, and testing turnaround times. Now? It’s configured based on products or matrices and automated.
5) Control your batches very easily
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6) Automatic certificate of analysis (CoA) generation
Certificate of analysis generation is the bottleneck for the testing department.
Before issuing the precious document, you need to:
- Collect all results
- Format them in Word
- Make absolutely sure the document is current and that specifications & commitments are correct
- Check for errors
- Get validation from the manager
- Sign, date, save
With CIKLab:
- 1 click and your CoA is generated
- All data is already integrated and necessarily current
- The validation workflow is automatic
- The certificate is automatically dated, signed, and archived
The benefit: One of our latest clients saved the equivalent of one full-time annual position on certificate generation alone!
7) Leveraging your testing data and results
Your results are your analytical asset, a goldmine of information. But how many of us truly leverage this data? It’s very difficult to search and retrieve information from dozens of files; many don’t even enter results but often just compliant/non-compliant, making it impossible in those cases to evaluate trends or detect weak signals.
With Excel, it’s complicated to have a clear view.
With CIKLab, you have:
- Structured and complete history of all your batches and results
- Test reports from your subcontractors integrated for each analysis
- Performance indicators
Concrete example: By visualizing the history of microbiological analyses over several months and different batches, one of our clients detected a progressive drift. Upon investigation, it was linked to a biofilm developing on equipment. Early detection = quick correction = no crisis.
8) Data security and compliance are guaranteed
In food processing, data security is central. Your quality control analyses are your proof of compliance in case of audit or crisis.
CIKLab means:
- Sovereign hosting with ISO 27001 certification
- Automatic backups according to ANSSI rules
- Secure connection with enhanced authentication
- Complete traceability of all user actions (Audit Trail)
Your data is more secure in CIKLab than in Excel files or on your local server!
For audits: All your data is timestamped and traceable. No more panic when the auditor asks “show me the history of this batch,” “who entered or modified this result?” “Show me that only authorized people can sign a certificate?”
Who is CIKLab for?
CIKLab is designed for professionals who need to manage quality control analyses and external analyses across multiple control plans.
Relevant sectors:
- Dietary supplements: Numerous analyses (actives, contaminants, microbiology, line testing…)
- Processed products: Strict traceability from raw material to finished product, complex monitoring plans
- Food ingredients: Complex technical specifications, very diverse analyses, supplier analyses, very different CoA generation
- Cosmetics: Complex control and monitoring plans, certificate of analysis generation
- Premixers: Management of multiple raw materials
User profiles
- Quality and control managers: Your daily tool to manage all your control plans
- Quality technicians: To easily manage analysis organization for material receipts or production
- Management: To have visibility on testing progress and release dates
- Sales teams: To quickly access customer certificates of analysis
How does CIKLab integrate into your daily routine ?
The control workflow with CIKLab
Step 1: Batch creation
You launch production or receive raw material: you create the batch in CIKLab in 3 seconds, or automatically with API-ERP connection.
- The concerned product
- Item code
- Manufacturing date
- Batch number
- Raw material batch numbers
➡️ CIKLab automatically displays the tests to perform according to your control plan.
Step 2: Ordering analyses
CIKLab indicates the analyses to launch and pre-selected laboratories. In 1 click, you order all external and internal analyses.
CIKLab generates:
- Purchase orders for each laboratory (PDF and CSV)
- Sample identification labels
- Automatic tracking of analyses, turnaround times, and costs
Step 3: Real-time monitoring
You see at a glance:
- Which analyses are in progress
- Result delivery deadlines
- Alerts if a deadline is exceeded
Step 4: Results reception
Laboratories send you their reports. You can import them into CIKLab (drag & drop the PDF, or automatic import) and automatically link them to batches (no more need for folder trees on your network).
Step 5: Batch release
If everything is compliant, you validate batch release. CIKLab can automatically generate:
- A certificate of analysis
- A certificate of compliance
- A batch file
- A control summary sheet
Step 6: Archiving and traceability
Everything is automatically archived, timestamped, and traceable in the application’s audit trail. In case of audit or complaint, you find all information in seconds.
What are the benefits of CIKLab ?
Our clients observe on average:
- 80% time saved on administrative analysis management, tracking, control plan updates
- Zero oversights on periodic analyses thanks to automation
- 10x faster to generate a certificate of analysis
- Better exploitation of quality data
My take on CIKLab ?
What makes the difference
- Designed by quality managers: Every feature addresses a real field need, not just a marketing idea
- Focus on control plans and outsourced analyses: We don’t do everything, but what we do, we do well. External lab management and complex control plans are our core business
- Continuous evolution: We listen to our clients and evolve the software based on their feedback. Updates and improvements are included in our subscription
- Responsive support: Because I was in your shoes for a long time, when you need help, we’re here!
Questions to ask yourself before getting started
Before investing in software like CIKLab, ask yourself the right questions:
1. What’s your testing volume? If you do 2 batches per month with 3 analyses on a few control plans, Excel probably suffices. If you do 50 batches per month with 15 analyses each, with multiple monitoring plans, then CIKLab will change your life!
2. How much time do you lose on administrative management? Do the math, but do it honestly: time spent managing Excel, updating control plans, editing multiple technical sheets, ordering analyses, tracking deadlines, generating CoAs… If it’s more than 5 hours per week, CIKLab already pays for itself!
3. Do you have traceability problems or recurring errors? Difficult to find an analysis result? Uncertainty about a batch status? CIKLab solves these problems.
4. Are you ready to digitalize? Software changes habits. The team needs to be ready to abandon Excel for a new system.
Conclusion: CIKLab, quality control software designed for your reality !
My partner and I created CIKLab because we desperately needed it when we worked in the industry. Every day, I see that our prospects still have the same issues we had:
- Too much time lost on administrative tasks
- Endless control plans and specifications
- Difficulty tracking external analyses
- Stress finding information during audits
- Manual certificate of analysis generation
CIKLab isn’t miracle software. It’s a pragmatic tool that addresses real food quality control problems. No frills, no gimmick features, just what you need.
My advice: If you recognize yourself in the issues described in this article, request a demo. We’ll show you concretely how CIKLab can adapt to your situation.
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