Your industry – and your lab – is constantly changing. The rush of new discoveries (and increased pandemic-related responsibilities) is enough excitement to distract you from the pain of managing the more detail-oriented administrative tasks, like keeping track of your chemical inventory.
Keeping your inventory organized and up to date can feel like a losing battle, especially if your only means of accounting for them are on the low-tech side. The work you do to reign in the chaos may go unnoticed…until something goes awry, of course. A new chemical inventory system can save you time, money and headaches daily. But when is it time to tackle a search?
Here are 5 signs it’s time for a new chemical inventory tracking solution:
1. Your eyes hurt from sifting through spreadsheets or binders
Spreadsheets or notebooks were good enough to get you by for a time, but now, day to day management is getting unruly. Even the best labs with seeming airtight processes experience an average of up to 20% chemical drift, or inconsistencies in reporting, in a quarter. After all, who has bandwidth to remember every usage amount and property when multiple experiments are running at once?
The fact that many chemical inventory tracking solutions weren’t designed to work in a lab environment (and don’t offer modern day support) doesn’t help either. Generic software or manual tools aren’t going to cut it when your lab reaches its next phase of growth.
2. You can’t find the information you’re looking for in 3 seconds
Finding the amount of inventory on hand of a particular substance may take a quick glance, but what about things like expiration dates, the correct SDS information, handling protocols and location? Every moment spent looking for this information is taking you away from your core job function.
Without adequate search and filtering tools to quickly find what you need, you’re wasting precious time – and money. You’ve outgrown your chemical inventory system if you’re constantly trying to remember how information is categorized, stored and displayed. Even if you’re not sure where to find it, a better chemical inventory tracking solution can grant you the flexibility to explore and sift through thousands of records at once, without headaches or papercuts.
3. Compliance red flags go unnoticed
Just building your inventory list and keeping it up to date on a daily basis is not enough. Energetic chemicals are building in their potential for harm right under your nose, and without a system that proactively alerts you to those changes, you run the risk of not just failing an audit, but endangering staff.
Internal or external audits shouldn’t be the only catalysts for taking wider stock of your inventory: you need a regular cadence of checks to keep your lab accident and hazard proof. If the solution you have in place now doesn’t reduce risk or increase safety, you’re missing out. This continuous effort can be made simpler.
4. Reporting is time consuming
All lab managers need to report on their hazardous materials inventory in the US. Any inventory approach, whether its home-grown or commercial, needs to address this fact. Reporting on your chemical status should take a few clicks, but if filling out Tier II and DHS reports take weeks to complete, it’s time to reevaluate.
Having an accurate and current record of your inventory is absolutely essential, and lab managers don’t need to settle for less than simple one-step reporting.
5. Your costs are rising
This sign isn’t as obvious and may require a bit of digging to uncover. You may think you know what chemicals you have on hand, but if that information isn’t front and center, you’re more likely to order more inventory than you need. In addition, the space and personnel costs associated with holding those chemicals, processing them, and consolidating later is eating into your budget that could be used better elsewhere.
Better chemical inventory software also helps cut hazardous waste disposal costs. Mismanaged orders or missing extra expired substances can be made a thing of the past, saving you hundreds or even thousands.
Conclusion:
In an ideal world, your chemical inventory tracking system can deliver a clear audit trail of how your inventory has changed from receipt through disposal. If “the way it’s always been done” approach to taking stock is causing more problems than it solves, it’s time for a change.
In over 30 years of working with leading labs from universities, government agencies and private corporations, Vertere suggests looking out for solutions with:
- Robust, industry-compliant tagging & tracking: your tracking software needs to account for your industry’s compliance and regulatory data at the container, user, and location level (with advanced search capabilities to match)
- Proactive insights & alerts: expired, hazardous or low inventory supplies should surface automatically for review
- Quick and easy regulatory reporting: reports should materialize in seconds, not hours or days
- Barcode enabled management: to make tracking, transferring and disposing chemicals seamless, without redundant data entry and resulting error
- Mobile access: to empower your team to keep up-to-date accurate records
Every lab and process is unique, so upgrading your chemical inventory solution now stands to enhance your lab’s growth over time.
About Vertere:
Top universities, government agencies and private corporations use Vertere to save time and make compliance simple with laboratory-specific inventory management software. Women-owned & operated for over 30 years, we specialize in chemical, biological, and laboratory equipment management with easy to use barcode tracking software.
Trusted by: Cornell University, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, Jafra, Metropolitan Museum of Art