Choosing the Right Chemical Inventory Software for You

If you are a company that stores Hazardous Chemicals onsite you will, at some point, be required to present a legitimate chemical inventory to Federal, State or local authorities.  As of recently, many companies have turned to chemical inventory software to automate or simplify the process. Choosing the right chemical inventory program is an important decision. The correct software for you depends on your company’s needs and wants. Here are some tips on how to make a decision that’s right for you.

How Many Chemicals Are You Storing?

If the answer is under a thousand, you might be able to get away with a simple Excel spreadsheet. With this sheet, you can include information on flammable materials, certain chemicals required in wastewater permits and DEA regulated materials. If your chemical inventory needs are basic as suggested above, you need not invest in a licensed chemical inventory system. The time and effort it takes to use an excel spreadsheet would be comparable and more cost effective.

Tracking and Flagging

If you do decide you need to invest in a chemical inventory software, be aware that many software options have benefits that go beyond meeting your Federal, State and local obligations.

Chemical tracking and flagging is one the most beneficial aspects of setting up one of these software programs.  Many programs offer a chemical barcoding system which assigns a unique number and bar code for every chemical entered into the system.  This allows you to enter a chemical into the system as you receive it, track that chemical throughout its lifetime in your facility through routine chemical reconciliations and ultimately allows you to scan the material out of your inventory when it is disposed of.  This process ensures you continuously have the most accurate snap shot of what is currently on your site regardless of size or number of chemicals.

Barcoding and chemical tracking can be a great cost savings measure as well.  By having full knowledge of what chemicals are onsite you can more effectively ensure they are used completely and within their expiration date.  This reduces the costs associated with over-purchasing chemicals and in turn the disposal fees associated with overstocked or expired chemicals.  There are some programs that can actually link with your procurement management systems to help streamline this process.

Inventory systems such as Cambridge Soft, CIS Pro, MSDS Online and Enterprise Reagent Manager (ERM) through SciQuest all have additional features that can help your company take your chemical management to the next level.

Safety

Safety is another vital aspect of implementing a chemical inventory program.  In addition to flagging DEA chemicals or chemicals that require special permitting like flammable permits, you some software allows you to flag chemicals that are highly hazardous or that have a sensitive expiration date such as peroxide formers.  By keeping these chemicals in check you can effectively reduce the number of unmonitored chemical reactions in your storage space and ensure a much safer working environment for your employees.

Before choosing your chemical inventory system it is important to understand what you will need from that system.  There are plenty of inventory systems out there but what really determines which system is considered “good” or “the best” is really dependent on how well the system matches your needs.              

Popular Chemical Inventory Systems:                      

All Systems listed below have varying levels of reporting and chemical tracking capabilities.  Their best uses are as follows:

Cambridge Soft-Focused heavily on research use with benefits of “Chem Draw” and other publication applications.                                      

CIS Pro- Focused on regulatory reporting and real time chemical hazard assessment.

MSDS Online-Focused on regulatory reporting and real time chemical hazard assessment.

ERM (SciQuest)-Focused on integrated procurement and chemical/material flow

Excel-  Best for small-scale inventory and capable of fulfilling basic reporting requirements.

Things you may be looking for in a Chemical Inventory:

General Inventory

Chemical Tracking

Flammable Permit

Waste Water Permit

DEA material Permit

High-Haz identification

Procurement Management

Improve your chemical inventory management system with industry expert, Schuyler Stuart. 

To learn more about how our chemical inventory services have benefitted our clients, click the link below. 

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