This happens in pharmaceutical companies which use Wet and Dry bulb Hygrometers

This blog details our attempts at developing and marketing an automated Temperature and Humidity monitoring system to a Pharmaceutical company that largely depended on Wet and Dry bulb Hygrometers for logging temperature and humidity data.

What we were trying to do

Inventrom PVT LTD developed Blake, an automated temperature and humidity monitoring and alerting solution that logs lab data and sends SMS/email alerts when conditions exceed acceptable limits. We approached a pharmaceutical company (referred to as Company X) to demonstrate Blake's capabilities and how it could replace their manual monitoring processes.

The problem that we faced

Company X required proof of Blake's accuracy through a week-long comparative experiment against their standard Wet and Dry bulb hygrometer procedures. After conducting the experiment, the results showed "unacceptable differences" with inconsistent variations between Blake's readings and the hygrometer readings.

Observations and analysis

Upon closer investigation, our engineer documented six critical issues with the manual monitoring process:

1. Incorrect timestamps: Staff logged readings at incorrect timestamps, recording data at times they were not actually present in the lab.
2. Memorized values: Employees memorized lookup tables or logged only "acceptable" values rather than actual readings, leading to fabricated data.
3. Spreading misconceptions: Misconceptions about acceptable ranges spread among team members, creating systematic errors in the logs.
4. Cotton tube drying: The cotton tube on the wet bulb hygrometer would dry out, causing inaccurate humidity readings that went unnoticed.
5. Rushed maintenance: Staff rushed through maintenance steps for the hygrometers, leading to poorly maintained equipment.
6. Refusal to log accurate data: An employee refused to log accurate data that fell outside acceptable limits, despite photographic proof showing the actual readings.

Conclusions and Resolutions

The company reported these findings to their executives. The fundamental question remained: should pharmaceutical companies continue to rely on manual systems prone to human error, or should they adopt automated solutions like Blake that provide accurate, tamper-proof, continuous monitoring?

The answer seems clear - automated monitoring systems eliminate human error, provide continuous 24/7 data logging, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. If you are interested in learning more about Blake, visit our Blake page.