Proper monitoring and management of laboratory assets is not just a critical component of any lab, but also something that can easily become very time-consuming.  Real-time monitoring solutions can solve this problem and give employees time back in their day to focus on other tasks.

The Future of Lab Asset Monitoring & Management 

At pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, facility and laboratory operations managers have to look after many different areas. The monitoring and management of laboratory assets and equipment is often one of the most important and time-consuming aspects on a daily basis. It is important that facility and lab managers have access to real-time laboratory equipment and environment information for increased oversight of overall operations and proper capabilities for asset management. There are solutions on the market today that provide this real-time information and alleviate many challenges for lab asset monitoring and management.

A Real-Time Lab Asset Monitoring and Management Scenario

The Challenge

At a large biotech company, the Facilities & Operations Manager was conducting a routine inspection of the data loggers for each of the -80 freezers on site when he discovered several units triggered critical alarms during the night. Without proper real-time monitoring and automated alarm notifications from these disparate data-logging devices, the facilities team was unable to identify and correct the root cause for the deviations in a reasonable time frame, which led to a loss of samples stored in the units.

The Facilities & Operations Manager spent the rest of his day contacting service providers to perform the necessary maintenance on the devices. The company also has an asset management system implemented, but it is not fully automated, the user interface is difficult to navigate, and it is not interconnected with monitoring systems. With the amount of equipment this organization has on-site, it is very time-consuming to manage all the processes and documentation required to address these types of catastrophic events.

After the challenges and issues with these freezer failures, the organization decided to investigate more robust lab monitoring and asset management solutions on the market that could facilitate their needs.

The Solution

The company went with XiltriX for its laboratory monitoring needs. XiltriX is built with an open API architecture for easy integration with other systems, like a lab asset management solution.

XiltriX provides real-time, autonomous monitoring for laboratory equipment, devices, and facilities. The XiltriX monitoring-as-a-service model covers hardware and software implementation and a 24/7 Safety Net Team to address any issues, deviations, or failures for myriad lab equipment, devices, and ambient parameters. The full-service management of the system alleviates the burden of allocating full-time employees to managing a monitoring system. The time savings allows the Facilities & Operations Manager to focus on ways to improve lab operations and proactively mitigate risks, rather than reacting to catastrophes after they occur.  

The Result

With XiltriX managed monitoring services in place, and full integration with their lab asset management system, the Facilities & Operations Manager is able to set up automated maintenance events to the appropriate service vendors when any equipment triggers a critical alarm through the XiltriX monitoring system. Parameters can be set for each device on any deviations that require maintenance. When the critical alarm triggers, XiltriX transmits notifications to the lab asset management system to process a service event on the appropriate asset in the database. The service order is generated automatically and is assigned to the appropriate service vendor. After the asset is serviced, a report is uploaded and saved into each systems’ asset service history and the event is closed.

XiltriX laboratory monitoring helps streamline this biotech company’s processes when a critical alarm is triggered in a particular device due to deviation or failure. With this information, they can then automate scheduling maintenance for that device through an interconnected lab asset management system--all the way to the completion of the service event. The organization saves time and money with more automated procedures and in the event a critical alarm is triggered for any equipment or device, it can be properly monitored and tracked in each system providing the necessary reports for quality and compliance.

Interested in learning more about the future of lab asset monitoring and management? View our webinar, Expanding Your Lab: How to Ensure Operational Oversight, here: