Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) are either custom-built or off-the-shelf solutions to the problems of controlling the flow of data through laboratories. Typically, they handle data collected from automated repetitive processes and the coupling of these processes to systems which can display or store the data in a convenient manner. Commercial relevance is ensured by authors from major industrial organizations including SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Digital Equipment Corporation and Coopers and Lybrand who demonstrate by example successful application of the technology. This book provides an up-to-date overview of this intensely competitive field. Written primarily for industrial chemists and microbiologists, and analytical, environmental and pharmaceutical chemists, this volume should also be useful for clinical pathologists and all those working in laboratories where the cost-effective management of information is important.