Reducing Warehouse Validation Project Time: A Case Study

Reduce Validation Project Time by 80% and Save Thousands...

When choosing a system for performing thermal validations, the first question asked is often: "How much is this going to cost in downtime?"

The answer, with Veriteq's thermistor-based validation solution, is: practically nothing. Veriteq's warehouse mapping solution is so quick and simple to install that operational interruptions are kept to an absolute minimum, even in high traffic warehouses.

Our validation tools provide high accuracy monitoring from -86°C to 150°C (-123°F to 302°F). The sensors are stable and eliminate many of the error sources associated with cumbersome thermocouple-based validation methods.

Veriteq's VL series of compact data loggers, combined with vLog software, provide fast set-up (usually done by one person) and no thermocouples to place and try to protect for the length of the validation project. Our tools not only provide better accuracy in a simple, integrated package, you can validate without interrupting warehouse operations.

Our warehouse validation system has been put to the test by AMEC, an international project management and services company that employs over 44,000 people in more than 40 countries. The biopharmaceutical group provides design, construction, support and validation services to pharmaceutical companies worldwide.

Using Veriteq's system instead of thermocouple systems to validate temperature and humidity in pharmaceutical warehouses means that a lab passes savings to their clients, while still delivering superior accuracy and dependability.

Challenge: FDA-Regulated Environment Mapping Needs

In the pharmaceutical industry, temperature and humidity mapping is vital to the safe production of drug products. In recent years however, the requirement for validation has extended to include storage facilities.

"The FDA has clearly indicated that pharmaceutical companies are responsible for appropriate storage until drug products reach the final consumer," ”says Ed Crowder, a Validation Specialist. "Because of this, many companies now routinely map temperature and humidity in warehouses and storage facilities."”

Although thermocouple systems are often used for thermal validation of pharmaceutical warehouses, they are quite inefficient to use and nearly impossible to maintain, their accuracy degrading significantly with each use. Thermocouple systems are also expensive and time-consuming to install. T

Thermocouples must be strung throughout the warehouse, disrupting operations and demand experienced operators and painstaking effort to ensure accuracy.  Because the wires are so easily damaged, they must be calibrated before and after use to protect against temperature errors and random failures. Pre- and post-calibration is arguably the greatest cost associated with thermocouple use, in terms of personnel time and downtime.

Solution: Veriteq Simplifies Pharma Warehouse Mapping

To help clients overcome many of the challenges presented by thermocouple systems,Amec used Veriteq precision data loggers to validate temperature and humidity in pharmaceutical warehouses.

"We first began working with Veriteq data loggers about five years ago, when one of our clients purchased a system," says Crowder. "At first, we used them to map refrigerators and incubators. We thoroughly enjoyed using them and it occurred to us how much time and money they could save in mapping large warehouses." Today, companies like Amec use data loggers to map temperature and humidity in warehouses hundreds of thousands of square feet in size.

"What we like best about Veriteq's data loggers is how quick and easy they are to install and use," Crowder says. While setting up a thermocouple system in a large warehouse can take up to three weeks, he says, installing a data logger system in the same space can be accomplished in just a few hours.

"By using Veriteq's system instead of thermocouples, our customers can save somewhere around 60%— thousands of dollars — on the cost of thermal and humidity validation," says Crowder. "And since much of the cost of thermocouple systems is in the wires themselves, the larger the facility, the greater the savings."

Crowder says that occasionally clients who haven't used data loggers before express reservations about using them for mapping. "But when they learn that they won't have to shut down their warehouses to install the loggers, and they see how much time and money they can save, they're convinced. Once they use them, they wouldn't think of using anything else. There's just no comparison between data loggers and other systems."

To learn more about Veriteq precision data loggers, call (800) 683-8374 or contact us.