Container-Based Tracking Optimizes Inventory Management Processes
There may be more than one way to perform a task, but there's always a best way. There's no question that inventory management can be performed with a spreadsheet. Is that the best way? Invariably not. An electronic database-driven solution can automate many tasks and manage data much more efficiently. CISProLive's real-time Best Practices container-based approach optimizes tracking tasks, providing capabilities such as:
- Instant search and locate capability based on container ID's which can be system or user defined
- Batch operations for container transfer of location or ownership
- En masse operations - change container owners and locations quickly and easily
- Weight tracking algorithms for reporting total material in standard units
- User-defined properties and fields provide significant information storage flexibility
- Threshold ceiling and floor warning limits
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Scala ble Solutions Address Today's Business Needs
According to Wikipedia, scalability "indicates [a system's] ability to either handle growing amounts of work in a graceful manner, or to be readily enlarged." In the real world, this means that businesses which invest in scalable systems are investing in the ability to quickly and easily expand those systems upon demand, often delivering a competitive advantage. Web-delivered systems such as IMCSLive are easily scalable, allowing new users to be added any time. In addition to scalability, IMCSLive also enables companies to leverage concurrent licensing as well as extend IMCSLive to any facility or site in the world, enabling companies to also leverage economies of scale while keeping a tight control over costs. Find out more >>>
Reducing Waste Reduces Costs
Environmentally responsible practices help the corporate bottom line by reducing costs.
A new TrainingLive course, an Introduction to Pollution Prevention provides practical and realistic advice for reducing the volume and toxicity of hazardous waste generated by laboratories based on EPA guidelines. The course focuses on low-cost, easy-to-implement pollution prevention techniques that can help lower waste disposal costs, improve health and safety conditions, and reduce regulatory requirements and liability. Find out more >>>
New Software Development Services Include Gap Closure and System Integration Development
ChemSW is proud to announce the availability of new Software Development Services, making our domain expertise in asset management software available as an Information Technology (IT) outsourcing solution. The new services include requirements analysis, specification development, design, development, testing, and system documentation. In addition to integrating the CISPro® chemical inventory system with other systems, such as the purchasing system, ChemSW can perform gap closure for commercial offerings, such as SAP, and develop tracking mechanisms for satellite stockrooms. ChemSW's experienced software developers can provide asset management integration solutions that improve an organization's cost management, enhance business productivity, and minimize software development risks. Find out more
Best Practices Tip for the Month
Leverage Best Practices When Implementing a Chemical Inventory System to Ensure System Adoption and Successful Incorporation into Lab Processes
Effective inventory management of any kind involves getting the right inventory in the right place at the right time in the right quantity. Chemical inventory management focuses specifically on the controlling the activities involved with chemicals used by the organization.
Optimize Safety and Quality Chemical Data Management
Companies that utilize chemicals in their labs and their manufacturing processes must manage those chemicals in a safe environment in accordance with government regulations. At a minimum, to ensure that this is accomplished, a system for managing information about the chemical safety and quality data should be established and maintained. Best practices, on the other hand, take this minimum and leverage the management of the chemical inventory by leveraging the abilities of the people, processes, and technology involved to best effect.
Inventory Systems Support Best Practices
Best practices are "best in class" business policies, procedures, and processes that have continuously proven successful for many organizations. Best practices as applied to an organization's chemical inventory system are significantly different today than they would have been even a decade ago. With the increased use of commercial software and the outsourcing of Information Technology (IT) tasks, many organizations have implemented an off-the-shelf Chemical Inventory System (CIS) solution to ensure that the processes used to manage the chemical inventory are the most effective possible.
Best practices in chemical inventory management require taking advantage of the latest strategies -- such as Pareto analysis, Just in Time (JIT), and Material Requirements Planning (MRP) - and implementing them in the CIS. Doing so will enable your organization to perform effective chemical stock monitoring, forecasting, and setting and assessing chemical stock levels, while reducing stock levels, costs, liability, and environmental impact.
Thus, a best practices chemical inventory system that works with other IT solutions enables labs to not only track chemicals location and use, but also generate reports and access hazard information (Figure 1).
White Paper Identifies Critical System Components
To help ensure that you know all the components of an effective CIS and how to make it work for you, get a copy of ChemSW's white paper entitled Best Practices for Managing Chemical Inventory, which details best practices in chemical inventory management and provides insights to ensure system adoption and successful incorporation into lab processes. Reasons why systems fail and why they succeed are examined, as well as the true costs associated with chemical inventory management and cost savings that result when such a system is optimized for maximum effectiveness.
This free, no-obligation white paper delves into the best practices involved in managing chemical inventory to achieve the most effective, holistic chemical inventory system.
Click here for a complementary copy of ChemSW's white paper entitled "Best Practices for Managing Laboratory Chemical Inventory"
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Top Six Reasons
Why People Perform Inventory
1. "I found stuff we never knew we had."
2. "Between 10-25% of total chemicals needed to be destroyed. Some dated back to 1990. In fact, I found things with Mercury in them!"
3. "If it's bar-coded, people are more apt to pay attention to it."
4. Once we got it done, it was really easy to isolate where the hazardous materials were.
5. "It saved money because we bought fewer chemicals and had less disposal costs."
6. "Under Homeland Security, you must keep track of your hazardous materials."
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