Published: May 2026
Reviewed by: Annika Svanström, Global Product Manager IT and Workflow, Global Product Lifecycle Management, Systems.
Challenges in laboratory inventory management for immunology laboratories.
Manual inventory management continues to introduce inefficiencies into laboratory operations, including stockouts, expired reagents, emergency reorders and increased administrative workload. In allergy and autoimmune diagnostic workflows, even small gaps in inventory visibility can quickly escalate into workflow interruptions.
While digital inventory tools are becoming more common, the Phadia Stock Manager module is specifically designed to efficiently manage Phadia TM reagents and consumables. Many available solutions function as standalone systems, often requiring additional workflows or manual data reconciliation. In contrast, the Phadia Stock Manager module is seamlessly integrated within PhadiaTM Prime software, delivering real-time visibility and automated inventory control
Phadia Prime software is an operator software platform that manages assay workflows, including test requests, run execution and results reporting. It also provides comprehensive control over data and inventory, supporting efficient and streamlined laboratory operations.
But how much impact can optimized inventory management really have?
To evaluate the impact of this approach, a study was conducted in the Clinical Immunology Laboratory at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, Sweden. Outcomes from this high-volume clinical lab, together with insights from Centro Diagnostico Italiano (CDI), a commercial lab in Milan, Italy, highlight meaningful gains in day-to-day operational efficiency.
The results were significant:
- 69.5% reduction in weekly manual inventory management time (~27.5 minutes/week)
- 75% reduction in monthly stockout events (reduced to 1.5 monthly occurrences)
- 33.3% reduction in overstock occurrences (from 1.5 to 1.0)
- Increased staff confidence in inventory visibility and availability (from 2.3 to 4)
These improvements were not driven by additional resources or standalone systems, but by a different approach to how inventory is managed within the laboratory workflow
This reduction in manual workload was also reflected in daily practice:
“Implementing the Phadia Stock Manager module reduced our weekly manual inventory time by nearly 70%, allowing our team to focus more on testing and less on administrative tasks.”
Similarly, improved visibility directly contributed to fewer disruptions in testing:
“With improved inventory visibility, we reduced monthly stockouts by 75%, helping us maintain uninterrupted testing and more reliable turnaround times.”
Together, these results highlight how the Phadia Stock Manager module can improve supply continuity and reduce manual effort in allergy and autoimmune workflows. This approach provides a level of control that generic systems cannot match for Phadia-specific reagents.
While these results highlight the potential impact of integrated inventory management, they also raise an important question:
What changed operationally to enable these outcomes within an active laboratory environment?
How to shift from reactive to proactive inventory management
Beyond quantitative improvements, laboratories reported a meaningful shift in how inventory is managed day to day. Rather than reacting to shortages, delays or discrepancies, teams gained the ability to anticipate needs and act proactively.
This shift was enabled by integrating inventory management directly into laboratory workflows, providing a level of control that generic systems cannot match for Phadia-specific reagents. With built-in automation, predictive stock management, real-time visibility and consumption-based stocking, laboratories were able to move from manual tracking to more structured, data-driven decision-making.
As a result, laboratories experienced fewer interruptions, improved planning and greater operational control.
For example, CDI Milan highlighted improvements in delivery handling and order management:
“Updating stock after deliveries is now fast and automatic — we save more than one hour per delivery each month.”
Reducing manual handling not only saved time but also minimized the need for emergency reordering and administrative follow-up. This contributed to a more stable and predictable workflow environment.
Taken together, these experiences reflect a consistent transition: from reactive troubleshooting to proactive, data-driven inventory control.
Why inventory management matters for immunology laboratories
For medium- to high-volume laboratories performing allergy and autoimmune diagnostics, reagent availability is closely linked to turnaround time, cost control and service reliability.
As testing volumes increase and workflows become more complex, manual or disconnected inventory processes can quickly become a bottleneck. Integrating inventory management directly within laboratory software addresses this challenge by enabling:
- Improved supply visibility
- Reduced manual tracking
- Proactive, consumption-based ordering
- Greater operational consistency
By aligning inventory management with testing workflows, laboratories can reduce variability, improve efficiency and maintain continuity of care.
Phadia Stock Manager module is designed to support these objectives within existing Phadia Prime software workflows, without adding complexity or requiring separate systems.
What does the Karolinska University Hospital white paper include?
The full white paper provides a detailed analysis of the study methodology and outcomes, offering deeper insight into how integrated inventory management impacts laboratory performance.
It includes:
- Baseline vs. post-implementation workflow comparison
- Quantification of manual inventory workload
- Impact of stockouts on testing continuity
- Alignment of reagent supply with testing demand
- Expiry date management and waste reduction
- Operational considerations for integrating digital inventory tools into immunology laboratories
The white paper is intended for laboratory directors, managers and operational decision-makers responsible for allergy and autoimmune diagnostics who are evaluating strategies to improve efficiency while maintaining clinical quality and reproducibility.
Access the full white paper and explore the Phadia Stock Manager module
Download the complete white paper to see exactly how a high-volume allergy and autoimmune laboratory reduced stockouts by 75% and significantly cut manual workload—and what it takes to replicate these results in your own lab.
For detailed product specifications and functionality, visit the Phadia Stock Manager module page.
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