Best Practices for Lab Inventory Management

Inventory might not be the most glamorous part of laboratory work—but it’s one of the most important. Without the right reagents, samples, and equipment on hand, research stalls. Worse, poor inventory management can lead to wasted resources, safety risks, and even compromised results.

The good news? Platforms like the SciSure (formerly eLabNext) Scientific Management Platform (SMP) is helping labs move beyond outdated paper logbooks, replacing them with automated, streamlined systems that keep operations running smoothly.

In this blog, we will highlight:

• Why efficient inventory management is essential
• What lab inventory management involves
• Best practices for lab inventory management
• The benefits of digitalizing your lab's inventory management

Robust inventory management should be the backbone of any successful lab operation. Despite this, many laboratories continue to use outdated methods, like paper-based inventory logging, leading to inefficiencies, waste, and potential errors. Cutting-edge digital solutions, like SciSure are revolutionizing the way laboratories manage and track their resources. 

Are you ready to master the art of lab inventory management? Read on for our best practices and top tips to help you achieve optimal organization, efficiency, and cost-saving in your laboratory. 

Why is efficient inventory management essential?

Efficient lab inventory management underpins successful daily lab operations. It gives lab personnel streamlined access to the necessary resources, minimizes waste, and reduces costs, all while improving overall lab productivity. By standardizing inventory infrastructure and processes, labs can maintain research integrity by ensuring consistent organization, storage, and application of reagents and materials.

Maximizing the efficiency of inventory management systems is critical for a wide variety of laboratory and clinical settings. From biobanks, to academic research labs, contract research organisations, to commercial laboratories and hospital pathology departments; standardized inventory management is essential for ensuring that lab operations remain robust and reliable.

What does lab inventory management involve?

At its core, inventory management covers everything from procuring and labeling to storing and monitoring lab materials. That includes:

• Tracking reagent and sample stock levels
• Ordering and reordering supplies
• Ensuring proper storage conditions
• Documenting usage and expiration dates

The challenge? Manual logbooks and spreadsheets are slow, error-prone, and hard to scale. That’s why many labs are turning to a Scientific Management Platform for greater accuracy, efficiency, and control.

Best practices for lab inventory management

Substantial benefits can be achieved by instilling a robust lab inventory management regime. By adopting these best practices, you can not only ensure a smoother operational flow within your lab but also significantly mitigate potential errors, enhance safety compliance and achieve considerable cost efficiencies.

1. Perform regular stock/inventory checks

Regular stock checks maintain the balance of lab inventory, preventing the accumulation of unnecessary items, while identifying those that are expired or nearing expiration. This practice is crucial as expired materials can lead to research disruptions and failed experiments. As such, consistent stock checking can minimise waste, optimize budget utilization and help maintain quality control in the lab. 

2. Accurate labelling and documentation

Thorough labeling and record-keeping are fundamental for seamless lab operation. When managed poorly, labelling errors can lead to contaminated samples, incorrect usage of materials and other costly mistakes. Proper documentation and labelling can significantly improve research reproducibility, reliability and ultimately maintain the integrity of a laboratory's work.

3. Ensure proper storage conditions

Storing reagents and samples in optimal conditions is critical for preserving their integrity. This includes adopting good cold storage management practices, such as regular defrosting, shelving rotation and avoiding large empty spaces in fridges. It is vital to monitor the storage timeframes of sensitive materials as they can become unusable due to heat, cold or moisture exposure.

4. Use a first-in, first-out policy

Using older stock first reduces the risk of having to discard expired items and helps in managing costs more efficiently. This system ensures that materials are used in the order they were received, reducing waste and ensuring all items are utilized before their expiration date. 

5. Adopt a Scientific Management Platform

Digital lab inventory systems offer an off-the-shelf solution for tracking and managing lab inventory. By digitalizing your lab's inventory management, you can effortlessly monitor material usage, inventory levels, expiration daPlatforms like SciSure automate stock tracking, expiry alerts, and procurement, minimizing human error while boosting efficiency.

Why digital inventory management wins every time

Digitalization is by far the most effective way to ensure that your lab's inventory management remains efficient and sustainable.

With SciSure's LIMS capabilities, you can effortlessly manage all aspects of inventory tracking, from procurement and stock checks to storage and usage monitoring. With a robust smart digital system in place, your lab will have a solid foundation for successful research outcomes and streamlined workflows. From small start-up labs to large institutions, SciSure can be tailored to fit to your specific requirements. 

Let's take a look at some of the smart digital features that can galvanize your lab inventory management processes:

Visualize your whole inventory

Lab inventory management systems help you digitally visualize your entire lab inventory, making it easy to browse through and locate samples and specimens in your lab storage setup. Offering a centralised platform for all key inventory information, including sample tracking, storage locations, stock levels and procurement information, lab inventory management systems provide all lab staff with access to accurate and up-to-date storage data in real-time.

Streamline procurement processes

Manual procurement of key lab reagents can be tedious, especially when multiple vendors are involved. With the right lab inventory management system in place, you can streamline your procurement procedures by automating purchases when stock levels reach a pre-defined value. This feature helps improve cost efficiency while reducing potential delays in lab processes. Additionally, having all procurement information stored digitally minimizes incorrect ordering due to human error.

Benefit from barcode automation

One of the most significant benefits of digitalizing your lab inventory management is the implementation of barcode technology. With digital solutions like our SciSure SMP, you can quickly generate barcodes for all your lab materials and equipment, streamlining tracking, usage monitoring and facilitating automated reorder processes. Barcode automation significantly reduces the time spent on manual stock checks.

Achieve augmented biobanking

Biobanks, which store biological specimens for research and diagnostic purposes, require robust inventory management. With a LIMS, biobanks can enhance processes by digitalizing sample labeling and tracking, optimal storage conditions, cell passage requirements, and more.

Customize user roles and permissions

By integrating lab inventory management systems into your lab, you can assign individual user roles and permissions, ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive information and procurement abilities. This feature helps maintain the integrity of data and minimizes the risk of unauthorized use or misplacement of valuable materials.

Reduce instrument downtime  

Lab equipment and instruments are valuable assets that require careful maintenance and management to ensure their longevity. With lab inventory management systems, you can digitally monitor instrument usage, maintenance schedules, and calibration data. This feature helps your lab reduce instrument downtime due to unexpected malfunctions while ensuring optimal performance.

Unlock further features with ELN connectivity

SciSure offers LIMS and ELN capabilities on a single interface. This integration enables the connection of samples and reagents with study data, facilitating enhanced data connectivity, robust audit trails and easier data retrieval. With ELN connectivity, your lab can achieve improved quality control processes, simplified collaboration and streamlined research workflows.

Time to go digital?

Outdated paper logbooks can’t keep pace with the demands of modern labs. The SciSure Scientific Management Platform not only simplifies inventory tracking but also safeguards research integrity, cuts costs, and frees up your team to focus on what matters most: science.

Ready to see how SciSure can transform your lab’s inventory management? Book a free demo today

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Orginially published on October 4, 2024. Edited on July 29, 2025.