Laboratory inventory management is wider than the reagent shelf: a laboratory inventory holds reagents by lot, consumables by count and instruments by serial number with their calibration, because each test cites all three. A laboratory inventory management system keeps the three lists and the links from every result to the lot and the instrument it used; laboratory inventory management software and laboratory inventory software are the same record under shorter names. For a small lab the instruments are the part most often left in a spreadsheet, and the free instrument calibration sheet on this site works what their calibration costs from the lab's own numbers with no account.
A laboratory inventory management system: three lists, one record
Reagent lots with expiry and certificate; consumables with counts and pars; instruments with serial, location, calibration schedule and last calibration. A laboratory inventory management system that keeps the three as tables linked to the tests answers the audit's question about any result; three spreadsheets answer it after an afternoon.
Instruments in laboratory inventory management software
An instrument out of calibration is a reagent past expiry: every result on it is in question. The calibration sheet on this site works the schedule's cost, 48 events, 96 analyst hours and $11,520 a year across 12 instruments on the worked example, and the record keeps the schedule so the next due date is a lookup.
What the inventory costs the test
Reagent, consumables and labor per test, overhead per test, full cost and margin: the cost per test sheet on this site works them free. Limslane Pro keeps the lots, the counts and the instruments against every test at one flat price.
Questions people ask about laboratory inventory management
What does laboratory inventory management cover?
Reagent lots with expiry, consumables with pars and instruments with calibration, each linked to the tests and results that used them.
Why are instruments part of the inventory?
Because every result cites one, and an instrument out of calibration puts its results in question; the free calibration sheet works the schedule's cost.
What must laboratory inventory software keep?
The three lists as linked tables with the result-to-lot and result-to-instrument links, exportable at any time.