Steps to a Great Chemical Inventory Program
Posted on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 @ 02:13 PM
By Ian Lanza, Life Sciences Operations Coordinator
A good chemical inventory management program can reduce purchasing costs, reduce waste volumes and help comply with multiple safety and environmental regulations. There are three key components to constructing a good chemical inventory program:
1. Select a chemical inventory program- There are several different kinds of chemical inventory software on the market. I strongly suggest shopping around and purchasing a specific inventory program. Excel spreadsheets and home-crafted Access databases are generally not sophisticated enough to properly or effectively manage your program.
2. Reconcile your inventory- Once you have decided on an inventory software, you must enter all of the chemical in your facility into the inventory program. Do Not underestimate the importance and complexity of this step. Improperly entered chemicals or locations can be devastating. When reconciling your inventory you must consider spelling, nomenclature, locations, and SAFETY.
3. Continue Management- In order to make your chemical inventory sustainable, you must develop a system for entering new chemicals into the system, removing expired or empty bottles, and accounting for movement of chemicals within a facility. In addition I recommend performing a yearly reconciliation to ensure the inventory is up-to-date and to identify flaws in the program.
Chemical inventory management can be very complex and turn into a big mess very quickly. But with the right software, regular and consistent reconciliations and constant maintenance, your chemical inventory program can run flawlessly to reduce costs and waste generation, and ensure environmental and safety compliance.