Compo Expert: From Access database to [FP]-LIMS – quality and safety for healthy growth
How an internationally positioned fertilizer producer with 700 employees and 21 distribution sites worldwide moved from in-house Access to a modular LIMS – and quintupled its lab transparency along the way.
An International Leader in Specialty Fertilizers
COMPO EXPERT GmbH, headquartered in Münster, Germany, is an internationally positioned company with around 700 employees and 21 distribution sites across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa.
The company produces high-quality specialty fertilizers and biostimulants at its two own fertilizer plants in Krefeld (North Rhine-Westphalia) and La Vall d’Uixó (Spain) – offering professional users safe solutions for ornamental horticulture, tree nurseries, golf and sports turf, gardening and landscaping, public green spaces, fruit and wine-growing, agriculture and market gardening.
For quality control at the production site in Krefeld, the company relies on [FP]-LIMS from Fink & Partner – integrated into the existing system landscape.
Specialty Fertilizers for Professional Users on Four Continents
Compo Expert’s product range covers special mineral fertilizers, slow-release fertilizers, coated fertilizers, nutrient salts, liquid fertilizers, biostimulants, micronutrients and soil improvers – holding a leading market position.
Highest Standards for Optimum Product Quality
Due to the wide range of applications for its products, Compo Expert is subject to a number of national and European quality requirements – including fertilizer regulations governing the approval and labeling of fertilizers. On top of the legal framework, the company has defined its own strict quality standards.
End-to-End QA
Careful quality checks from purchasing through production to delivery – nothing leaves the factory below 100 % compliance.
Regulatory Compliance
National and EU fertilizer regulations governing product approval and labeling – fully addressable through structured lab data.
Physical Product Quality
Customers worldwide value the firm, low-dust and durable nature of the granulated goods – traceable to consistent process control.
Quality assurance has a very high priority in our company. Careful quality checks are carried out from purchasing through production to delivery. Nothing leaves the factory until it meets our requirements 100 %.
Quality in the Lab, Too: From Access to LIMS
Lab at Compo Expert · Image: Compo Expert
At some point, Compo Expert’s testing laboratory in Krefeld wanted to digitalize its internal analysis processes to match its high quality standards – away from test books and Excel sheets, toward a digital solution.
The first attempt was an in-house Access database. It worked for a while, but soon hit its limits:
- New product varieties were cumbersome to integrate
- Trends and correlations couldn’t be read or evaluated
- No reporting function
In 2014, a more practical solution was needed – one that could be individually adapted to the ever-changing requirements of the lab, not the other way around. Volker Staat knew Peter Niemann, CEO at Fink & Partner, from a previous project.
“I looked at the website and thought: an analysis management system – that’s what we need.” — Volker Staat
The Modular LIMS Convinced Everyone in the Lab
Fink & Partner’s modular [FP]-LIMS was convincing from the start. In addition to digital analysis management and test order management, the software offers modular solutions for recipe management and a web interface. What used to take a lot of time or required a programmer can now be done flexibly and easily.
Thanks to the modular architecture, the introduction could happen successively – which the laboratory staff found very pleasant. The capabilities became clear quickly in everyday use.
“We can supply the plants elegantly via the web browser. That was possible before too – but very complicated. No installation, no complex login. It just opens in the browser and it runs.” — Volker Staat
Volker Staat, Chemical Laboratory Assistant & LIMS Administrator · Image: Compo Expert
We can flexibly define different limit values or versions, or enter new qualities for different time periods – that wasn’t possible so easily with Access. Past values were automatically changed there too – which obviously wasn’t optimal.
Daily Use, Measurable Impact
Beyond flexibility, Volker Staat sees [FP]-LIMS as a significant time saver – and a transparency multiplier across the entire company.
Significant Time Savings
Used intensively every day – also saves a substantial amount of paper across the lab.
Early Trend Detection
Trends can finally be read at an early stage – enabling preventive process optimization.
100 % Result Recovery
Transparency within the company has increased significantly thanks to the reporting function.
We wouldn’t be able to do what we do today if we didn’t have [FP]-LIMS.
Compo Expert: Ready for the Demands of the Future
Responding to trends and remaining highly flexible – this is what Compo Expert stands for, not just in production. Volker Staat sees [FP]-LIMS as an important milestone for the company’s future viability.
“A LIMS is an optimal way to meet the increasingly digital challenges in the laboratory. Especially for more complex testing processes, a LIMS is simply indispensable.” — Volker Staat
For laboratories in all sectors of the economy, taking advantage of digitalization and incorporating it into daily processes is now essential. Compo Expert’s journey – from media-discontinuous workflows to a holistic, digital solution – exemplifies how a LIMS can be a decisive competitive advantage: through leaner processes, greater transparency and maximum flexibility.
What Has Changed Since 2014
With In-House Access
- New varieties only integrable with great effort
- No trend or correlation analysis
- No reporting function
- Past values changed retroactively – non-optimal
With [FP]-LIMS
- Modular: Analysis, Test Orders, Recipes, Web
- Plant access elegantly via browser – no installation
- Flexible limits & versions across time periods
- 100 % result recovery + reporting transparency
Outgrowing Your In-House Database?
See in 30 minutes how [FP]-LIMS can replace your Access or Excel setup – modular, browser-based, with the flexibility your QA actually needs. Free, no sales pressure.