Vertere Inventory Control Systems - General Module

General | Chemical | Supply | Fixed Asset | Web Interface

ChIM is a richly-featured chemical inventory management system. It has been helping customers in industry, government, and education to manage their chemical inventory since 1992.

ChIM has proven its ability again and again to:

• Minimize the time and effort required to maintain inventory records
• Improve regulatory compliance
• Enhance safety programs
• Reduce on-site quantities of hazardous substances
• Reduce overall costs of chemical purchases and waste disposal
• ChIM's integrated barcode technology and relational database design allow you to track every container – in the receiving area, the supply room, the lab, or the waste accumulation area – with accuracy and speed.

Control
ChIM is a container-level risk management tool that stores detailed chemical information needed for compliance, safety, cost, use, and asset control. You control chemical information:

• Chemical identification including vendor catalog number, Chemical Abstracts Service number, formula
• Quantity details in original and calculated common units of measure
• Location details to the building, room, cabinet or control zone level
• Hazards including all BOCA-monitored hazard types
• Applicable regulatory listings
• Personal protective equipment recommendations
• NFPA and HMIS hazard data

The ChIM design has been modified in response to customer needs for additional functionality. These are a few of the features we've added at customer request:

• Links to accounting systems
• Built-in requisition module
• Tare weight calculations
• Cost tracking per unit throughout the life cycle
• Monthly accounting reports
• Container-level usage monitoring
• Refillable container tracking
• BOCA control zone limits

Ease of Use
ChIM uses a standard Windows interface that is familiar and easy to navigate. On-line help, browse features, carryover functions (templates), duplicate records, and numerous support tools speed new record entry. Consider these ChIM strengths for ease of use:

• Chemical Identification – Use ChIM's Reference tables of 100,000+ chemical products listed by vendor and vendor catalog number. You'll find that adding chemical records cannot be any easier: enter the vendor and the vendor catalog number: watch the CAS and chemical name display. For vendor and products that are not included with ChIM, easily add new chemicals to your site master list.
• Auto tag generation – ChIM will display a unique ID number for a container when you add a new inventory item. You can reserve a range of numbers, turn the auto tag feature on or off for select users, or simply scan in the label number if you are using pre-printed barcodes. You are in control; neither you nor your users need to be concerned about the tag numbers.
• User-defined required fields – ChIM helps you maintain a basic inventory record by requiring the chemical identification, the amount in the container, and the location of the container. Some ChIM users, however, need more information to meet FDA, DEA, OSHA, EPA or other regulatory guidelines. In ChIM, the user defines the requirements such as shelf life, lot number or cost; ChIM ensures that they are met.

For example, in the Acetonitrile record below, every tabled field has lookup options. Unit of measure, for example, is consistently drawn from a table to ensure data consistency and easy conversion to pounds, gallons, or kilograms in ChIM's reporting tools.

If container information is vital, as in the California Unified Program Consolidated Form, you can define the storage container type. ChIM automatically calculates the expiration/re-evaluation date that will be stored in the Acquisition window where the receiving date, lot number, purchase order number, and other purchasing information is located. When multiple containers of the same substance/lot number are received, the Duplicate button permits users to request up to 50 additional records; ChIM will prepare the records, create the chemical tag numbers, and print the barcodes.

Tools like these ensure that ChIM gives you the level of detail you need AND minimizes the time required to enter the data.

Flexibility
Click for the main ChIM screen (640x480)

ChIM offers the level of detail that you require. You keep a simple listing of all on-site chemicals, or develop a comprehensive inventory management system; ChIM's level of detail is defined by the user:

• Monitor purchases to comply with BOCA control zone limits
• Track chemicals by organization unit or by individual staff member
• Restrict purchases to reduce or eliminate extremely hazardous substances from your site
• Record chemical use for charge-back to customer projects
• Control chemicals by specific location: bench, cabinet, freezer
• Track use by project for cost accounting
• Use all of ChIM's features, or... use only what you need. Every inventory transaction is audited to maintain detailed information about your inventory

ChIM Links to ChemWatch Chemical Database and Management System
Material Safety Data Sheet Management is a struggle. You may have thousands of chemicals on site with more arriving weekly. ChIM will provide an accurate listing of the data sheets you require. And beginning with the ChIM 5.6 system, the optional ChemWatch Chemical Database and Management System will meet the requirement for maintaining the data sheets.
More on CHEMWATCH

Other ChIM Features
In addition to the basic information about your chemicals or the information provided by ChemWatch, ChIM master chemical records are linked to regulatory, hazard, or physical property information for your chemicals. The delivered system includes tools to identify the TSCA, RCRA, SARA, EHS, and other regulatory requirements. ChIM's structure provides a fully-detailed yet flexible database that you can update, or we can provide the necessary data to populate values you need to maintain BOCA compliance, or meet other objectives.

In addition, ChIM helps you by providing:

• Control for stocked and non-stocked chemicals, including samples, pathogens,
• Easy entry of and searching on mixtures, by percentage or by volume
• Over 75,000 synonyms
• User-friendly lookup; over 100 standard reports
• Custom report tools using SQL queries that are stored for repeated use; reports can be locked to prevent modification
• Automatic calculation of data required for regulatory compliance
• On-line barcode printing
• Gas cylinder and demurrage control
• System security with multiple access levels, full reporting of system use

Benefits
A fully integrated chemical inventory management system, ChIM will deliver benefits to many groups within your organization.

Health and Environmental Safety

• Comply with regulatory guidelines
• Refine purchasing decisions to reduce on-site quantities
• Easily maintain current inventory records
• Identify inventory that needs re-evaluation or disposal based on age or storage
• Document orders, receipt, consumption, disposal
• Audit date and method of disposals, transporters and manifests
• Provide on-line access to MSDS records
• Simplify record keeping

Researchers

• Identify on-site chemicals to meet immediate user requirements
• Simplify the requisition process
• Search optional interfaces for regulatory, safety, structure and other data

Management

• Experience fast payback on investment
• Define accountability and responsibility
• Support purchase decisions with acquisition, consumption, and disposal records
• Reduce chemical orders by supporting re-distribution and sharing
• Reduce disposal costs
• Distribute costs to appropriate cost centers, departments, clients, etc...
• Speed reinventory

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