Introduction

Inventory control, also known as stock control, involves regulating and maximizing your company's inventory. The goal of inventory control is to maximize profits with minimum inventory investment, without impacting service levels. Inventory control is also about knowing where all your stock is and ensuring everything is accounted for at any given time.

An effective inventory control action plan facilitates close communication between the users, purchasing system, and the suppliers. Any plan adopted must emphasize maximum efficiency. Carefully prepared procedures, appropriate decisions on the ordering of supplies, and continued emphasis on control of expenses are the basic characteristics of good management required to satisfy those who audit the entire system, including the purchasing, receiving, and accounts payable departments.

Effect of Inventory Control in Clinical Trial Management

Efficient and cost-effective operations in the healthcare industry require the uninterrupted availability of reagents, chemicals, and supplies. The inability to perform work because of lack of reagents or supplies is costly, disruptive, wasteful, and might extend clinical, bioanalytical, pharmacy, laboratory, and may interfere with research work in clinical trials. The Clinical Research Organization must establish an internal inventory control system to assure the maintenance of adequate supplies.

The Following Benefits and Objectives are Achieved Using Inventory Software

• Simplifies paperwork. Avoids efforts in requisitioning and preparing purchase orders.
• Reduces costly inventory. Develop timely ordering and standardization. Know when to order reagents, disposables, equipment and in what quantity.
• Improves communications. Use systems to facilitate rapid and clear interactions among, purchasing, receiving, accounts payable, material suppliers, and the laboratory.
• Always have proper inventory on hand. Avoids costly emergency deliveries. Add item notification. Improves methods of budget preparation. Calculate the inventory valuation. Forecast an estimate of future demand.
• Reduce prices paid for laboratory products and services.
• Educates and streamlines laboratory personnel working in inventory control (materials management)
• Helps to enhance their management skills.
• To reduce labor of inventory management, centralize control and automate.
• Real-time physical count of the inventory.
• Maintain a complete vendor database including the purchase order/contract.

Features of Inventory Control

• Stock Groups/Categories: Grouping and categorization of stock items can be done effectively depending on various parameters. Various inventory reports are provided to give the complete picture.
• Multi UoM Support: Creation of User specific UoM's and viewing of reports in desired UoM Multiple UoM support is provided to view the reports in alternate UoM. User specific UoM can be created and can be converted into standard Unit.
• Track your Inventory across multiple locations, departments, workstations, analysers and tests.
• Ageing Analysis: Stock ageing report gives the detailed duration for which the items are lying in the above locations. Based on this information decision to liquidate the items can be taken easily.
• Re-order Status: Re-order report for each stock item gives the complete details of Minimum Order Quantity, its balance, re-order level, shortfall and how much should be ordered helping to maintain optimum levels of stocks.