Across the supply chain, companies that handle regulated goods are often challenged to find easier ways to ensure compliance. Warehouse management systems (WMS) are one tool that is helpful in ensuring compliance. Modern warehouse management software provides warehouse operators with vital details about inventory. For companies that are actively looking for a new WMS, this white paper includes a list of capabilities that can help keep warehouse operations in compliance with regulations.
Real-time visibility of inventory is very important for both general warehouse operations and ensuring regulatory compliance. With DSCSA, companies that deal with life sciences inventory are now mandated to track goods down to the individual saleable unit, meaning that each item available for sale must have a serial number on it that can be tracked.
Not all warehouse management systems are capable of serialization or of nested serialization. It is important to know this when evaluating WMS for purchase. The WMS also should be able to manage batches, expiration dates and shelf life. Multiple allocation strategy capability is also an important criterion, especially if handling different kinds of goods. Track and trace, traceability and being able to track chain of custody are also valuable features.
Quality control features including inspections, holds, and quarantines, especially automated capabilities are essential to accuracy as well as to the operation of safeguarding inventory efficiently. The WMS needs to be able to quickly identify, sequester, and process goods impacted by a product recall order. Using a WMS that can automate these processes will save significantly on labor and time and may save lives.
Documentation and record retainage capabilities are important for ensuring regulatory compliance. For this, having a warehouse management solution with a comprehensive, immutable audit trail and searchable archives is invaluable. As labor is typically the largest cost in warehousing, being able to find and retrieve vital information and documentation without manual search can potentially produce notable savings.
The white paper includes information on compliance reporting, electronic signatures and approvals, labeling automated workflows, and user-defined fields (UDFs).