How Dr. Emma Harris Solved Her Lab’s Inventory Management Issues

Dr. Emma Harris, a Scientist II at Busy Biotech CRO, was constantly frustrated by her director asking her to manually track gloves and reagents she used on a weekly basis in spreadsheets so they could more accurately bill their clients.

As a scientist, she cared about the experiments, not tracking how many tips she used! So she often skipped the task, every now and then causing her lab to run out things ;ole 96 well plates and placing emergency next day orders to ThermoFisher to meet their deadlines.

To solve the problem, she tried buying pallets of gloves and other bulk supplies, but the lab quickly ran out of storage space. Even worse, the lab director had no insight into inventory usage for specific programs, making it harder when billing their clients!

When Dr. Harris was asked to oversee two more programs, she needed a scalable solution to track multiple projects simultaneously, and she finally understood why it was so hard to answer the question “How much did we spend on antibodies for the project with Amgen last quarter?”

The next week, Dr. Harris discovered Labtools.AI, simple-to-use software for scientists to eliminate manual tracking that uses smart tap-to-track tags to log experiments, device runs, and inventory consumption. By tapping a LabTrackerz tag, Dr. Harris could create ELN entries, log experiments to a client’s invoice, and sync with the lab's procurement system! This saved hours of manually updating spreadsheets and her team could stop buying gloves by the pallet, giving her director automated reports to make billing more transparent and her clients happier!

After using LabTrackers for a month, Dr. Harris discovered Labtools.AI trains custom machine learning models on her inventory usage, predicting when her lab would run out of gloves and helping plan re-orders to avoid stockouts.

Thanks to LabTrackers, Dr. Harris’s lab now runs smoother, with accurate resource tracking and transparent billing—helping them save money, free up their time and automate inventory management so they can get back to discovering the next big breakthrough!

Want to try Labtools Inventory Management?

Labtools allows you to design, track, and manage experiments in real time with just a tap of your phone. Whether you're working with sensitive lab equipment or conducting time-sensitive experiments, LabTrackers provides a simple, efficient, and error-free method for logging activities and monitoring the progress of your experiments. The platform works by syncing your experiment data with Labtools.AI  and all it takes is a tap of a LabTrackerz Tag to record your actions.

How Does LabTrackers Work?

The process was streamlined to save you time and reduce the possibility of human error:

1. Sign up for an account: Start by registering for an account and contacting the Labtools team at [email protected] or www.labtools.ai 

2. Create Your Experiment: Designing your experiment on the Labtools app. This includes defining experiment parameters, reagents, projects, setting metadata tags, and specifying critical resources. If you have existing protocols, you can share them and we can bulk create experiments based on your documents automatically.

3. Add inventory items to an experiment: Once the experiment is designed, add inventory items like tips with the number you use during your experiment. For example, if you are running PCR for 96 samples, you might use 192 tips and save this on the experiment.

4. Link the Experiment to a LabTrackerz Tag: Once the experiment is designed, add it to a LabTrackerz Tag. You can buy custom Labtrackerz tags for your lab or use QR Codes that store details about the experiment and can be attached to your devices, equipment, or even lab benches. Using the NFC tools app, add a custom link to the tag and you are ready to go!

5. Tap-to-Track: As you conduct your experiment, simply tap the LabTrackerz Tag with your mobile device to instantly record the action. This tap logs everything—from the equipment being used, the user conducting the experiment, the time, location, and any other relevant metadata—directly into the LabTools system.

6. Real-Time Syncing: As each action is recorded, the data is immediately synced with your LabTools platform, providing up-to-the-minute updates on your experiments. This makes it easy to track progress, monitor device usage, and ensure all data is accurate and readily available. You can even use this as a shared calendar to show other members of your lab what devices are currently in use!

Key Features of LabTrackers:

• Seamless Integration: LabTrackers integrates directly with ELNs/LIMs, so all your experiment data—whether it’s device usage, consumable tracking, or user actions—are saved in one centralized system for easy access.

• Customizable Experiment Design: LabTrackers gives you full control over designing your experiments, from specifying the required equipment to tagging resources and assigning team members. The flexibility ensures that it suits your laboratory's unique needs.

• Track Consumables and Device Usage: Beyond just tracking experiments, LabTrackers also monitors consumable usage and device activity. This is particularly useful for labs that need to manage resources efficiently and prevent stockouts.

• Metadata and Tags: Add metadata tags to your experiments, allowing you to filter and categorize data for easy retrieval. Whether you need to analyze results by user, experiment type, or device, LabTrackers makes it simple.

Benefits of LabTrackers for Your Laboratory

1. Increased Efficiency: By eliminating the need for manual logging, LabTrackers saves you time and ensures that data is accurately captured with minimal effort. This reduces administrative overhead and allows you to focus more on your research.

2. Improved Data Accuracy: Since every experiment is logged automatically in real time, there’s less risk of human error. The consistency of data entries leads to higher quality and more reliable records.

3. Better Resource Management: With the ability to track device and consumable usage in real-time, LabTrackers helps you optimize resource allocation, reduce waste, and ensure that your laboratory runs efficiently.

4. Full Audit Trails: LabTrackers automatically creates an audit trail for each experiment, including all actions, device use, and metadata. This ensures that you can trace any step of your experiment and verify data whenever necessary.

5. Easy Reporting and Analytics: LabTrackers enables quick access to data that’s vital for generating reports, analyzing trends, or conducting post-experiment reviews. You can filter data by user, device, date, and experiment type to gain actionable insights.

What are you waiting for?

Stop manually editing this data and try Labtools.AI today!

Schedule a call to learn how at https://calendly.com/labtools-info/ai-audit  or sign up for our newsletter to learn tips & tricks about adopting AI in your lab here: https://labtools.beehiiv.com/subscribe