Let me introduce myself. My name is Nick Das, Lab Manager at Intracare/Intrahorti. I am responsible for all daily activities, projects and reports in our chemical and microbiological laboratories. I’m part of Intrahorti since 2017.

Before joining Intrahorti, I worked at a laboratory where new molecules were synthesised from biobased sources. These molecules were then used for the production of biobased products. At the time, I wanted to focus more on specific work for customers, so I decided to make a career switch. Over time, Intrahorti’s laboratory has expanded quite a bit. Our laboratory contains state-of-the-art equipment, which is used to analyse all aspects important to deliver our in-dept reports and do our analysis. Together with my colleagues, we ensure that all raw materials and Intracare products are analysed with great precision. The quality of our products is considered as a vital component, and it is only by extensive testing that we can ensure the optimal quality. This requires continuous investment in the laboratory and new developments are a regular occurrence.

What attracts me most about my job is making things happen together as a team. I always compare it to a puzzle that needs to be solved. There are various options open to achieve results and they need to be translated into a conclusion. Solving those puzzles is the key to success and growth. Those factors not only make us happy, but our customers too. We come up with answers to specific and ,detailed and difficult questions and complex projects. The final result is a detailed report of the requested analysis, which helps our customers with trusted and reliable information. If I look at the future of our laboratory, I am convinced it will continue to develop and expand. We invest in new equipment. Our microbiological laboratory is upgraded with the latest equipment, which makes it possible for us to work with more specific pathogenic bacteria and viruses.

A continuous process within the laboratory is developing new analytical methods and optimising them to generate more accurate analysis. We also monitor our equipment closely to ensure there is no down time in our processes. All this work is done by our laboratory team, which sometimes is a bit of a challenge. I have great respect for them, because we constantly need to switch flexibly between our daily jobs, maintenance of our equipment and project work. Time does not stand still, but we always find a good solution to finish the job in time. The growth of Intrahorti has quite some consequences for our laboratory. More orders and products mean more QC work. In addition, the market for pesticide-free products for the horticultural sector is expanding rapidly. Due to these trends, the demand for our products is growing and new types of products are also being developed. Project-wise, this means many new kinds of analysis. And that gives us the challenge of developing new analytical methods to answer the new questions. But our current lab team is perfectly capable of succeeding and is ready for a bright future!