Bruker QMatrix & [FP]-LIMS – seamless integration for Q4 Tasman, Q8 Magellan & co.

What is Bruker QMatrix?

QMatrix is the control and evaluation software that Bruker Elemental has developed over many years for its OES (optical emission spectrometry) spectrometers. It handles spark excitation, spectral acquisition, calculation of element concentrations and the initial check against quality specifications.

In industrial laboratories in the metals sector – steelworks, foundries, aluminium processors, smelting operations – QMatrix has been in use for years, often in three-shift operations. The software is stable, mature and optimised for Bruker hardware. The integration with [FP]-LIMS has been in place since 2006 and has been continuously developed further over the years.

What QMatrix is not: a fully fledged LIMS. QMatrix takes care of the instrument and the measurement, not the management of orders, batches, audit trails, shift logs or the link to ERP systems. Those tasks are exactly what [FP]-LIMS takes on.

Supported Bruker instruments

The [FP]-LIMS QMatrix interface covers the entire Bruker Q-series of spark optical emission spectrometry:

All four instruments work with QMatrix as their instrument software and with [FP]-LIMS for laboratory and data management.

History & current status of the cooperation

The connection between Fink & Partner and Bruker goes back a long way. Three milestones explain the current situation:

1. 1
   2006: Start of bundled delivery Since 2006, the laboratory analysis management software from Fink & Partner ([DIA], later [FP]-LIMS) has been shipped together with Bruker OES instruments of the Magellan and QMatrix families. The software integration is deep – both solutions are technically designed for close cooperation.
2. 2
   January 2020: End of bundled delivery By official press release dated 1 February 2021, the end of the bundled delivery of [DIA]/[FP]-LIMS by Bruker was announced, effective 1 January 2020. Since then, Bruker no longer ships LIMS software from Fink & Partner – instruments are delivered with Bruker ELEMENTAL.SUITE or with customer-supplied software.
3. 3
   Today: The technical integration continues – directly through Fink & Partner The Q4 Tasman and Q8 Magellan instruments of many existing customers continue to run with QMatrix and [FP]-LIMS. Updates, maintenance, migration and support on the [FP]-LIMS side have, since 2020, been handled exclusively and directly by Fink & Partner – no longer through Bruker. The interface itself is continuously developed and maintained.

Important for existing customers: if you are running a Bruker Q4 Tasman or Q8 Magellan and have questions about updates, migration or interface configuration, contacting Fink & Partner directly is the right path. Third-party installations of our software on QMATRIX instruments have not been authorised since 2020 – for both licensing and functional reasons.

How the QMatrix interface works

The [FP]-LIMS QMatrix interface is bidirectional: data flows in both directions, automated, with no manual intervention.

The transfer is real-time. The operator selects the grade to be tested at the spectrometer (e.g. “Steel grade 1.4301”), QMatrix receives the specification from [FP]-LIMS, runs the measurement, and sends the result back. There it is archived, evaluated and prepared into reports.

Concrete day-to-day benefits

What the QMatrix–[FP]-LIMS integration concretely delivers in the shift operations of an industrial laboratory:

• Fewer manual steps – no transfer of measurement values via USB stick or by hand
• End-to-end data transfer from the instrument straight into the central database
• Fast evaluation – results are in the LIMS within seconds, not only after a manual transfer
• Reliable evidence – every measurement linked to batch, sample, operator, timestamp and specification
• Consistent grade list – specifications are maintained centrally in [FP]-LIMS, not duplicated at the instrument and in the office
• Audit confidence – complete audit trail for compliance with ISO 17025 / ISO 9001

In practical terms: the laboratory technician at the spectrometer presses “Measure”. The values are immediately in the LIMS, evaluated against the specification, linked to the batch and documented in the audit trail. What used to take minutes of manual work per sample now runs in the background.

Recent improvements to the QMatrix interface

The interface is being continuously developed further. The most recent improvements in the latest [FP]-LIMS update for the QMatrix integration:

• User permissions work reliably again – role-based access rights apply cleanly across the interface
• Stable grade exchange – specifications are synchronised consistently between the systems
• Selection fields driven by plausibility rules – dropdown fields can be tied to plausibility rules, reducing input errors
• Improved error handling – clear feedback when a transfer does run into trouble

Existing customers with Q4 Tasman or Q8 Magellan instruments should update to the current [FP]-LIMS version to benefit from these improvements. The path is straightforward: a brief contact with our support team, and the update is rolled out.

Windows migration & reinstallation – what you should know

A frequent reason for customer support enquiries: the old system (often still Windows 7 or 8) is being migrated to a current Windows version, or an instrument needs to be set up from scratch. One central rule applies here:

Bruker is not the right point of contact for this migration – the [FP]-LIMS side has, since 2020, been handled exclusively by Fink & Partner directly. The QMatrix side (Bruker software) remains with Bruker.

Typical migration steps at a glance:

1. 1
   Inventory check Which QMatrix version is running? Which [DIA] or [FP]-LIMS version? Which customer-specific configurations have been built up over the years?
2. 2
   Migration plan Data backup, update sequence, test setup. For critical three-shift operations, a maintenance window is scheduled.
3. 3
   Migration & testing Set up the new [FP]-LIMS version, transfer existing data, test the interface to QMatrix, validate with real measurements.
4. 4
   Go-live & handover Productive operation, user training (if version differences are noticeable), ongoing support.

Bruker ELEMENTAL.SUITE – also connectable

For newer Bruker instruments that ship with ELEMENTAL.SUITE instead of QMatrix, the same applies: integration with [FP]-LIMS is possible. ELEMENTAL.SUITE is Bruker’s newer generation of OES software with the AXSCOM™ Automation Interface, designed for integration into industrial processes.

For laboratories that run older QMatrix instruments and newer ELEMENTAL.SUITE instruments in parallel, [FP]-LIMS can be configured so that both interfaces are served cleanly – without isolated solutions or duplicated master data maintenance.

Frequently asked questions on Bruker QMatrix integration