8 Ways a LIMS Helps With Inventory Management

Is your lab still tracking inventory manually?

You’d be surprised how many labs are stuck tracking reagents in Excel or have a policy to “order more if you take the last one.” If this rings a bell, then it’s time for a change. It’s time your lab modernizes by getting a LIMS.

A LIMS is a software platform designed to help automate and streamline lab workflows, including a host of features dedicated to inventory management. In this article, you’ll learn how a LIMS can help your lab manage inventory better.

8 Ways a LIMS Can Help Your Lab Manage Inventory

With a name like LIMS (Lab Information Management Software), it’s no surprise that there are dozens of ways that a LIMS can help streamline, digitize, and automate your lab.

Here are our eight favorite ways that a LIMS can improve your lab’s inventory management:

1. Scan barcodes for easy logging and tracking
2. Track the usage and location of reagents in your lab
3. Track reagent lot and expiration dates
4. Track individual ingredients used to prepare reagents in your lab
5. Track reagent suppliers and store quotes and invoices
6. Automated alerting and re-ordering at reagent usage thresholds
7. Usage trend reporting for better budgeting
8. Lot number tracking for quality control and traceability

Scan Barcodes for Easy Logging and Tracking

Thanks to barcode scanning capabilities, a LIMS can significantly streamline inventory management for your lab. 

By assigning unique barcodes to each item, your staff can quickly log received items, track their movement, and update inventory levels  – all with a simple scan. Not only does this save time for the actual inventory logging, but it also drastically reduces manual data entry errors that can slow your lab down.

Track the Usage and Location of Reagents in Your Lab

Once scanned, your LIMS can track the location and usage of each reagent in your lab. 

Every time someone uses a reagent, they can update its quantity in the system, which provides real-time inventory levels for your lab. In large labs with multiple storage areas, this process helps reduce time spent searching for supplies and prevents unnecessary reordering of items that are only misplaced.

Track Reagent Lot and Expiration Dates

Quality control is a critical competency for any lab. As your lab grows, tracking inventory becomes more challenging, which increases the risk of using expired materials that compromise your test results.

A LIMS can monitor lot numbers and expiration dates to ensure expired materials never get used and instill confidence in your lab’s data. Not only does this maintain the integrity of your lab’s tests and data, but it also assists in implementing first-in-first-out (FIFO) inventory management, ensuring older lots are used before newer ones to minimize waste.

Track Individual Ingredients Used to Prepare Reagents in Your Lab

If your lab prepares reagents from scratch, a LIMS can help by tracking the individual components used in each preparation. This allows for detailed record-keeping of reagent composition, ensuring consistent preparation over time. It also helps troubleshoot issues arising with a particular batch of reagents.

Track Reagent Suppliers and Store Quotes And Invoices

Inventory can be a significant cost driver for labs, so having an overview of suppliers, costs, and invoices is critical to effectively managing your budget. With a LIMS, this is a breeze.

Your LIMS can serve as a central repository for supplier information, including:

• Contact details
• Product catalogs
• Price quotes
• Invoices 

This makes comparing prices, tracking spending, and maintaining relationships with multiple suppliers easy. It also simplifies the reordering process by having all necessary information readily available under one roof.

Automated Alerting and Re-ordering at Reagent Usage Thresholds

If your lab frequently runs out of reagents, the ability to set up automated alerts based on use thresholds will be a godsend for your staff. A LIMS can monitor inventory and send alerts to your team at predetermined thresholds to prevent stockouts that can cause severe delays for your team. Some LIMS can even make purchase orders on your behalf, eliminating the administrative burden of monitoring and scheduling inventory.

Usage Trend Reporting for Better Budgeting

By tracking reagent usage over time, your LIMS can generate reports that reveal usage patterns and trends throughout your lab.

This data is invaluable for budgeting and planning purposes. You can use this to anticipate future needs, better schedule and manage inventory throughout the year, and even negotiate better bulk purchasing deals with suppliers. This data is difficult to gather by hand but can be completely automated with a LIMS.

Lot Number Tracking for Quality Control and Traceability

Lot number tracking in a LIMS is essential for maintaining high quality control standards and ensuring traceability in research and production processes.

By linking experimental or production data to specific reagent lots, you can identify any variations in results that might be due to differences between reagent lots. This is especially important in regulated environments, where tracing materials used in each process is often required for compliance.

Don’t Leave Your Inventory up to Chance: Download the LIMS Buyers Guide to Start Your Automation Journey

As a lab scales, the demands of inventory management can quickly be too much to bear. 

From delays due to inventory shortages, poor budget forecasting, or compliance issues, there is a lengthy list of things that can go wrong if you leave your lab’s inventory up to chance or a spreadsheet.

Modern labs looking to get more done (and do so in a compliant manner) must seriously consider a robust, flexible LIMS. Learn more in our guide on the Best Software for Lab Inventory Management. Spoiler: we recommend getting a LIMS to enable your lab can automate, streamline, and manage inventory at scale - all without breaking a sweat (or the bank).

If your lab is new to LIMS software, click the button below to download our free guide to selecting the right LIMS. This guide will educate you on the types of LIMS available and features to look for as you begin your selection process.