Notwithstanding its cruciality, managing lab inventory is one of the most ignored aspects of running a laboratory. The profit from a highly optimised and efficient workflow can be easily offset by a poorly managed inventory. It is easy to lose track of the enormous amount of supplies, equipment, reagents and chemicals soon after a lab starts operations. That’s where a lab inventory software or LIMS helps — it makes every inch square of your shelf space count by enabling you to choose the optimal combination of products based on your projects. Specifically, a Lab Information Management System offers the following benefits in inventory management:

Simplify the inventory process

An optimum inventory is one in which no product gathers dust, meaning that every supply that you buy is put to use. For this, it is necessary that every single item in your lab is accounted for. By assessing your daily lab routine, the lab management software can ascertain which items have been over stocked (and ended up expiring without being used), rightly stocked or understocked (thus impeding workflows) and prescribe consumption based inventory planning and decision making about minimum threshold limits for different items. When the stock for an item reaches its threshold, the LIMS re-orders automatically, eliminating the need for rigorous manual tracking.

Organise supplies and receipts

A smart LIMS like CARE Labtrak helps you organize your inventory and facilitates faster storage, retrieval, and re-stocking of items. Items can be grouped together by frequency of use, alphabetically or by expiration dates — based on what’s best for you. Barcoding items is a great, error-free way to do this as it promptly updates the database when an item is scanned — while going in or out the shelf.

Besides supplies, it is vital to maintain receipts and bills of the equipment in your lab. This is very useful in tracking down the supplier for claiming warranty or for regular maintenance schedules. Manually performing these simple tasks can lead to a lot of clutter, confusion and a monotonous work schedule for staff.

Inventory management is just one of the many advantages that an LIMS brings to a laboratory. Data — being stored on the cloud — enables regular audits by top executives and managers to assess the overall lab health and make smarter decisions about its performance. Hundreds of labs have saved thousands of dollars by investing in CARE LabTrak. For questions, leave us a query at contact@caredatainfo.com.