Sample tracking and chain of custody
Logs every sample from collection through disposition, with a full audit trail.
PiLims is laboratory information management system (LIMS) software with a built-in OPC client, built by PiControl Solutions as a low-cost, user-friendly alternative to complex enterprise LIMS platforms. PiLims captures lab analyses and quality specs, tracks sample chains from collection through disposition, and — because of its native OPC client — correlates every lab result with the live process data (temperatures, flows, pressures, compositions) captured directly from the plant's DCS, PLC, or historian via OPC-DA or OPC-UA.
Enterprise LIMS software is powerful but heavy: multi-month validation projects, dedicated IT administration, and licensing costs that few mid-size plants can justify. PiLims exists for the plants that need core LIMS functionality (sample tracking, spec checking, quality reporting) without the enterprise overhead, and adds a capability most LIMS platforms don't have at all: a built-in OPC client that ties lab quality data directly to real-time process data for inferential control.
PiLims manages the full lab-sample lifecycle (collection, logging, testing, spec-limit checking, and release) while its built-in OPC client pulls live process data from the DCS, PLC, or historian at the moment each sample is taken. That pairing turns disconnected lab paperwork into a single, correlated record of quality and process conditions, ready to feed real-time monitoring and inferential quality models.
Logs every sample from collection through disposition, with a full audit trail.
Enter results and PiLims automatically flags pass/fail against quality specs.
Reads live DCS, PLC, and historian tags directly via OPC-DA or OPC-UA — no middleware.
Timestamps every result against the live process conditions at sample time.
Correlated history trains and validates soft sensors that predict quality between lab assays.
Certificate-of-analysis-style reports and statistical trend charts, ready to export.
Quality and lab departments use PiLims to log samples, enter assay results, and check them against spec limits without the cost and validation overhead of enterprise LIMS platforms. Every release decision is backed by a documented, time-stamped record, ready for certificate-of-analysis reporting and regulatory review.
Process and control engineers use PiLims's OPC-correlated data to close the gap between infrequent lab assays and continuous process operation. Because every sample is tagged with live process conditions, PiLims's history becomes the training set for inferential models that estimate product quality between lab tests, feeding real-time monitoring and process optimization work.
PiLims's feature set is built for one outcome: lab quality data and live process data in one correlated record, without enterprise LIMS overhead.
Reads and writes live tags directly via OPC-DA or OPC-UA, compatible with every major DCS, PLC, and historian.
No middleware, no new control hardware, and no rip-and-replace to connect lab data to the plant.
Full lifecycle logging from collection through disposition, with a complete audit trail.
Every release decision is documented and defensible for regulatory review.
Flags results as pass or fail against quality specs the moment they're entered.
Removes manual comparison and catches out-of-spec results immediately, not at end-of-shift review.
Every result is timestamped against the live process data captured at sample time.
Turns isolated lab records into the data set inferential models and root-cause analysis need.
Certificate-of-analysis-style reports and statistical trend charts, ready to export or print.
Puts audit-ready quality documentation in front of customers and auditors without manual assembly.
Runs on standard Windows hardware and deploys without a multi-month enterprise LIMS validation project.
Plants get core LIMS functionality without the licensing cost or IT overhead of enterprise platforms.
Most plants sit between two bad options for lab data: paper logbooks and spreadsheets that never touch the process, or enterprise LIMS platforms sized and priced for pharmaceutical majors and central labs. Neither gives a mid-size plant what it actually needs — sample tracking and spec checking, correlated with the live process data that explains why a result came out the way it did.
Lab results sit in a binder or a spreadsheet, completely separate from the DCS or historian. When an off-spec result shows up, there is no automatic link to the process conditions that caused it.
Full enterprise LIMS deployments run into six figures and multi-month validation projects, sized for facilities far larger than most process plants actually need or can justify.
Even a well-run lab that reports results quickly is reporting in isolation. Without the live process data attached, engineers still have to manually reconstruct what the plant was doing when the sample was taken.
PiLims removes the structural problem: core LIMS functionality at a cost mid-size plants can justify, deployed in days rather than months, with a built-in OPC client that automatically attaches live process data to every lab result.
PiLims is part of PiControl's OPC-connected software range: correlated lab and process data feeds directly into loop monitoring, high-speed data logging, and cross-network OPC connectivity.
APROMON real-time loop monitoring watches PID and APC loops continuously for oscillation, valve degradation, and tuning drift — the process-side counterpart to the quality data PiLims tracks in the lab.
PiLogger historizes the same OPC tags PiLims correlates with lab results, at sub-second resolution for tuning analysis and post-mortem investigation.
PiBridge bridges OPC data across networks and firewalls, extending PiLims's built-in OPC client to plants where the lab and the control network sit on separate segments.
Every process industry runs a lab alongside its plant floor — PiLims connects the two, whatever quality specs and process tags a given industry runs.
PiLims is deployed in process plants and quality labs worldwide as a low-cost alternative to enterprise LIMS software, correlating lab results with live process data for plants that want inferential control and quality reporting without the enterprise overhead. Read more in our customer success stories.
Contact PiControl Solutions for free PiLims trial software and licensing details for your plant.
See PiLims track a sample from collection to release, and watch its built-in OPC client pull live process data in real time. A PiControl engineer will demonstrate the software on data relevant to your lab and plant, and discuss free trial software.