Equipment and metrology: records, verification, and stock
X-Lab LIMS helps keep laboratory equipment, metrology records, and material stock. The system holds the condition of the equipment, maintenance, repairs, verification, related documents, and the staff authorized to use it.
The register covers more than measuring instruments. It also covers test equipment, reagents, reference materials, prepared solutions, materials, and protective equipment. The details stay in one system and are easier to find.
1. One register for equipment and materials
Different kinds of laboratory resources can be recorded:
- measuring instruments;
- test equipment and auxiliary equipment;
- reagents and reference materials;
- prepared solutions and mixtures;
- materials and protective equipment.
Each item keeps its main details, condition, metrology, maintenance and repairs, related files, and methods. Equipment movements and the staff authorized to use the item can also be recorded.
2. Metrology and maintenance
An equipment card stores metrology, verification, and maintenance. Related documents stay with that record.
Staff work from the current card. The person responsible for the equipment can find the records and documents in one place.
3. A QR code for the details
An equipment item can carry a QR code on its label. Scanning it opens a reference page that does not require sign-in.
The page shows a photograph, the condition of the equipment, the main details, and the metrology data. The information can be read in the laboratory without searching for the card by hand.
4. Lots and writing off stock
Stock is kept by lot. Each lot records receipt, opening, and write-off, and it can carry a barcode.
The register shows lots with a remaining balance by default. Lots that have been fully used can be shown as well.
For reagents and reference materials, dates are checked: manufacture, receipt, and expiry have to follow one another. A write-off report can be saved as PDF from the register, from the item card, or from the lot record.
The report period is chosen on the workplace calendar.
5. Preparing solutions from recipes
Solutions prepared in the laboratory are kept apart from purchased reagents. The journal records the name, the nominal concentration with its unit, and the balance.
Preparation uses an approved recipe. Components are written off from selected lots of reagents, reference materials, or solutions already on record, and the system creates a new lot of the prepared solution.
The recipe sets the nominal concentration, the yield of one portion, and the components. Until the prepared solution is confirmed fit for use, it cannot be written off for further use.
Each lot keeps the recipe version it was prepared from. Earlier versions can be opened, so the composition of a particular solution can be traced.
Equipment, metrology, and stock in one system
The register, the metrology records, the lot history, and solution preparation stay together. Staff can open the records and documents they need, and the laboratory keeps a structured account of its resources.