Challenge:
For the EH&S department at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), managing their organization’s chemical inventory was a labor intensive process that included off-line spreadsheets which were not always updated in real-time. Multiple teams worked to receive, prepare, and record the chemicals in a process that, because of the large number of people and steps, increased the chance of errors. Inventory reconciliation was also a challenge due to the amount of time it took to perform by hand.
Solution:
LJI leveraged the RSS Chemical Inventory Management solution with RFID scanning technology. With an intuitive design, the solution makes it easy for researchers and chemical inventory owners to add, edit, and remove chemicals from their inventory using a mobile device or desktop computer while also providing EH&S with the ability to produce regulatory and other custom reports from the analytics dashboard.
Benefits:
Time Savings: By shifting the majority of chemical inventory management to the labs, the EH&S department at LJI can now allocate more time to other services such as supporting the Institute with COVID-19-related challenges.
Cost Savings: Using the mobile app, lab members are able to access their current chemical inventory and identify what chemicals are in stock, which prevents over-purchasing.
Improved Safety and Compliance: Thanks to the RFID scanner technology, EH&S is now able to quickly reconcile each lab's chemical inventory and dispose of old chemicals as part of the process. The initial software set-up and barcoding process provided a great opportunity for EH&S to work with the labs and encourage them to discard any chemicals that were a safety concern. Moving forward, the staff at LJI can be confident in the quality of their inventory data and regulatory reporting.
Results:
The team at LJI was able to eliminate manual processes, improve the quality of the chemical inventory data, and provide their labs with software that helped them efficiently manage their chemical inventories.
“Once we had a couple practice tries at the program it became second nature to navigate the app and system, and we really appreciate the support you all have provided from the outset!"
— - Maddie McMurray, EHS Assistant, La Jolla Institute for Immunology.