Spectra QEST was founded in January 1984. It is a specialist software vendor providing solutions for the construction materials and geotechnical testing industries, and the construction materials production industry.
Products
QESTLab is Spectra QEST's laboratory information management system (LIMS) and forms the backbone of its software solutions. It is used by construction materials and geotechnical testing laboratories to improve the efficiency of laboratory operations in areas ranging from sample tracking, test result calculation, test report generation to equipment calibration, work scheduling and billing.
QESTLab is also used by construction materials producers to improve quality control and reduce costs in their concrete, aggregate and asphalt production operations by tracking and reporting on the historical performance of their products. It seamlessly integrates with production systems to allow the inclusion of production data in analytical reporting.
QESTConcrete is a suite of products developed to be used in conjunction with QESTLab to assist concrete producers to design, optimise, manage and adjust concrete mixes easily and quickly, leading to significant savings in concrete production costs. The QESTConcrete suite includes QESTMix, QESTDesign and QESTMonitor.
History
An Australian First: The CACTP
The CACTP (Computer Aided Concrete Testing Package) was the first non-spreadsheet based concrete testing system developed for both construction materials testing and concrete production companies.
The CACTP was a huge commercial success with tens of installations in many major laboratories around Australia — a few of them surviving to this day! Heavily customised for each individual customer, it pushed the industry to the next level, showing the way forward from the spreadsheets people were using at the time.
The First Construction Materials LIMS: The QCLab
The next major product, the QCLab was the first fully featured LIMS tool for the asphalt industry, and the most comprehensive testing system for quarries, while it still supported concrete testing. It corrected many of CACTP's shortcomings including providing a very powerful report editor, far better databasing abilities and the provision of an integrated platform for multidisciplinary testing. It also introduced features such as extensive lists, equipment and staff management functions, comprehensive test screens and better design relating to sample and test result management. Of note, was the fully functional relational database QCLab used, which was designed and developed in-house!
Early Mix Management and Other Projects
Following the QCLab product, Spectra QEST was commissioned to write a centralised concrete mix management and maintenance program by a large concrete producer, who used the system throughout Australia. The QCMixManagement system was born and was the first such system to be adopted by a major concrete producer in Australia. The level of sophistication was such that a mix could be adjusted centrally in Brisbane and batched an hour or so later in Perth —or anywhere else in Australia for that matter.
Another interesting project was the QCProject commissioned by Transport SA and used to manage quality data for major road works. Despite being a prototype, it was used to manage 10 major road projects in SA in the late 90’s and immensely assisted Spectra QEST’s know-how in that area. Without the knowledge acquired from that job, it would have been impossible to embark in the very exciting Clark County project (in Las Vegas, NV) which currently provides a centralised platform for all quality data to be collected for Clark County projects.
The World's Most Successful Construction Materials LIMS: The QESTLab
Building on the success and experience gained from Spectra QEST's previous software products, the company embarked on the development of its largest software project to date, the third complete re-write of it's laboratory software package. The investment of tens of thousands of hours and millions of dollars has resulted in what is today the world's most comprehensive laboratory information management system (LIMS) created specifically for the construction materials and geotechnical testing industries: the QESTLab. The development of QESTLab continues today, more rapidly than ever, with the continual addition of new functionality and the expansion of its already vast test method coverage.
The World's Most Advanced Concrete Mix Management System: The QESTMix
Spectra QEST has always had a very strong association with the concrete production industry. During the same time as it was developing QESTLab, Spectra QEST, along with some of its large concrete producer customers, identified the need for a system that would allow concrete producers to quickly, easily and, most importantly, centrally manage the thousands of concrete mixes at their disposal. The QESTMix system was created to address this need, and was developed over a number of years in close consultation with Australia's leading concrete producers, namely Readymix (now Cemex Australia) and Boral. The system introduced a number of new technologies and concepts to the concrete industry such as mix groups (represented by cement content 'change points'), virtual materials, the distinction between mixes and products, etc.
Of course, Spectra QEST's innovative culture is to always push forward —even when the company's current technology is the best available. In line with this, the company is currently undertaking significant investment into the concrete technology software it offers (including a $1.5m research project) in order to create the next generation of software tools that will allow innovative leading concrete producers make their products more efficiently and more effectively than ever before.
Strong growth in Australia and New Zealand
During the past decade, and as the QESTLab and QESTMix matured and achieved commercial success, the company has cemented its position as the vendor of choice for the markets it operates in Australia and New Zealand.
Expansion into the USA
In the past few years, our products have also been making a name for themselves in the very competitive and demanding US market. A number of reputable companies or varying sizes are already enjoying the benefits of QESTLab, and the flagship installation of the product is the PSI implementation which (when completed) will serve almost 90 laboratories across the United States in what is believed to be the largest centralised implementation of a commercially available construction materials LIMS in the world!
The Future
Spectra QEST is currently in the enviable position of leading technologically and commercially in all the markets they operate. This is expected to be continue by expanding geographically to cover new regions, as well as expand technologically in order to both reach a larger pool of customers as well as to provide new solutions to existing ones.
The future looks bright indeed!
