In this four-part blog series, we explore how Merit for Life Science optimizes critical business processes for pharmaceutical and biotech companies by advancing the core capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 with a professionally developed, tested, and validation-ready solution. Read our other blogs on inventory management and product safety, weighing and dispensing, and inventory splitting and sub-batching.
Imagine the scene: a life science manufacturer eagerly anticipates the launch of a groundbreaking therapy. But suddenly, disaster strikes. A storage mishap in one of the warehouses compromises the product’s integrity, rendering it ineffective and jeopardizing not only patient health but also the company’s reputation and bottom line.
This hypothetical scenario underscores why controlling storage conditions is critically important and why it should be top of mind for life science manufacturers. Ensuring materials are stored under precise conditions isn’t just about adhering to regulations; it’s about safeguarding products, meeting customer expectations, and ultimately, securing the success of the organization.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at how an industry-tailored solution like Merit for Life Science can make all the difference.
Implementing Controls
Storing and moving materials correctly maintains their quality and efficacy. To achieve this goal, organizations need to implement controls that define business rules for maintaining specific storage conditions and enforcing them during material handling processes in the warehouse or production facility.
Merit for Life Science advances Dynamics 365 to meet the unique and complex requirements of biotech and pharma companies, enabling them to define storage requirements for each material, such as temperature or humidity ranges, and associate these requirements with each item in the system.
Defining Cold Storage Requirements and Enforcing Controls
With Merit for Life Science, organizations can also define the storage properties of different locations within the warehouse or production facility, such as the range of temperatures that a particular freezer location provides. The system then enforces these rules by comparing the properties assigned to the warehouse location with the requirements of the item.
By so doing, it can guide users towards the appropriate storage locations and most importantly, prevent users from placing materials in storage locations that do not satisfy their required conditions.
The benefits of using these controls are significant:
- It simplifies decision making for operators, preventing them from having to manually choose the right locations and allowing them to focus on other critical tasks.
- It also prevents errors that could result in product damage and waste, harming revenues.
- Materials managers can monitor and audit the storage of existing materials any time they want.
- They can run reports, receive alerts if materials are stored in inappropriate locations, and take corrective action quickly to protect material.
Merit for Life Sciences advances D365 for life science organizations
While the default Dynamics 365 warehouse management module provides tools to implement storage controls processes, it is complex and not intuitive to set up and maintain. The rules tend to be prone to errors and gaps, making it challenging to rely on them. Additionally, many life sciences organizations want to give users the flexibility to override the standard put-away rules in certain situations. However, this makes it challenging to ensure compliance since there is no way for the system to evaluate override locations.
Merit for Life Science has storage controls built in at a lower level. As a result, users still have the flexibility to override rules while ensuring that a new location is compliant with storage conditions. This approach provides a higher degree of control as well as offering much-needed business flexibility.
See how Merit for Life Science manages expiration dating and retesting:
Moreover, storage controls can go beyond physical storage properties, ensuring that specific materials are stored in secure locations. For instance, organizations that handle Schedule II controlled materials or high-value materials can define special rules that apply only to them. That way, they can ensure that these materials are stored in secure locations with extra monitoring around them, maintaining compliance with key requirements.
Maintaining storage controls solves multiple problems for biotech and pharma companies. These controls:
- protect products
- ensure regulatory and customer requirements are met
- enable monitoring and auditing of storage processes
- ensure specific materials are stored in secure and controlled locations
Merit for Life Science is the best solution to accomplish all of these goals—providing trustworthy, auditable controls with just enough user flexibility to enhance business operations.
Need to get a handle on critical processes including mission-critical storage conditions?
Our team of industry solution experts is here to help:
Contact us to connect with a solution consultant or learn more about Merit for Life Science inventory and warehousing capabilities.