Asset Tracking in Biotech

WISER’s asset tracking system helps enhance quality control, streamline operations, and reduce asset loss wherever it’s implemented. This system locates and tracks assets in real time and reports their status autonomously. This allows biotech customers to monitor task progress, collect valuable data, and generate instantaneous alerts if a problem arises.

THE PROBLEM: SENSITIVE, EXPIRING ASSETS

Biotech processes tend to operate with tight parameters. Temperature, humidity, location, and proximity to other materials could all pose dangers to biotech assets like assays. Safety regulations add to the list.

These parameters can also change for each step of a production process, which makes asset monitoring even more difficult. For instance, assays might need to stay cool during one phase and maintain a high temperature in another. Losing track of that assay—or a batch of them—during the process can quickly nullify any processing work that’s already been completed.

Even when these risks are minimal, keeping track of biotech materials can require heavy management resources. This could include manual inventory checks and tedious or error-prone steps to account for each stage of production. Any of these problems will limit production output and delay project completions.

THE SOLUTION: WISER’S ASSET TRACKING AND MICRO-LOCATION SYSTEM

In a biotech processing setting, time-sensitive assays are placed in large barrels. These assays are processed by being moved from area to area, with a unique stage of refinement or production taking place in each area. For instance, one room could be used for UV treatment while another is used for substance compositing or a waiting period.

By placing WISER asset tracking tags on each barrel, process managers can see instantly where each assay is on a facility map or floor plan. They can also see where the asset has previously moved and how long it stayed in each area. This provides enough data to assess progress, to indicate if any steps have been skipped, and to determine how long expiring assays can safely remain where they are.

Because WISER tags include temperature sensors, coordinate data can be paired with environmental parameters to customize the solution further. This data is invaluable since biotech processes are often time-delineated or temperature-sensitive, and since many assays expire quickly and need precise management at each stage.

THE RESULTS: ALWAYS-CURRENT ASSET LOCATION

Now process managers can see immediately if an assay is held up, approaching the end of its shelf-life, moved to the wrong area at the wrong time, or approaching a temperature violation. They can also automate alerts and updates based on asset status. This RTLS application also reveals levels of congestion mid-process—for instance, if 20 barrels are held up in one production stage while another stage is empty. Process data helps adjust timelines, refine performance, and ensure the stability and quality of each sample.

WISER’s asset tracking system sends an uninterrupted stream of data even after a product reaches its safe storage destination. Because WISER’s UWB system operates indoors and out, it can even be used to track biotech products moving from one facility on a campus to another. WISER time-stamps products wirelessly, allowing real-time updates as products reach their destination. Most importantly, WISER’s system does this without extra human effort.