Digital data loggers are the secret weapons you may not know about in many industries. These digital devices can record numerous types of data to meet an organization’s needs. These can include temperature, humidity, pressure, voltage, and other factors.

One of the most common uses for digital data loggers is environmental monitoring. We will explain exactly what this process is, which industries need it most, and some of the benefits data loggers provide when used in this context. Here is a quick guide to digital data loggers and environmental monitoring.

Environmental Monitoring, Explained

Environmental monitoring refers to the process and the tools used in a process to effectively track and analyze the conditions of a space or a product in terms of temperature, humidity, and/or pressure. This is done when materials or products are sensitive to their environmental conditions.

Digital data loggers are a key part of the environmental monitoring process. The devices allow organizations to collect accurate data that reflect the conditions at a given time. More advanced digital data loggers make this process even easier because they are equipped with capabilities to transmit data to a remote monitoring system, work seamlessly with software programs, and send alerts when issues arise or conditions dictate.

Industries That Rely on Digital Data Loggers

A very wide range of industries can benefit from digital data loggers but companies in heavily regulated industries rely on them the most. These industries make products that are sensitive to environmental conditions.

If these conditions are not maintained, a product could be rendered ineffective or even dangerous to consumers. In these industries, an ineffective or dangerous product might not look any different than an effective or safe product.

This is why the government, often in the  form of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), regulates the quality practices in certain industries, especially when it comes to environmental monitoring.

Mandated environmental monitoring, which often relies on digital data loggers to help facilitate data collection, is frequently found in these industries:

• Aerospace
• Food and beverage
• Hospitals and healthcare
• Medical device manufacturing
• Pharmaceutical
• Specialty Manufacturing and production

For these industries, digital data loggers are a necessity for all the benefits they provide.

Benefits of Data Loggers

Organizations in highly regulated industries like the ones above choose digital data loggers over other methods of environmental monitoring for many reasons. In addition to the fact that using data loggers is more efficient and effective than using tools like old-school chart recorders, digital data loggers provide a host of specific benefits to companies in these industries.

Asset protection

All businesses need to protect their bottom line.  That means guarding their assets. Digital data loggers help companies protect their product assets by ensuring that they stay within the desired environmental conditions.

If the products stay in the prescribed environment, they will be safe and effective and can be sold to the public. If not, the failure can cause a world of issues that leads to asset loss. If a product ends up in unsafe environmental conditions, a company may decide to destroy it themselves or be forced to by government regulators.

If the product is not destroyed and it finds its way to market, the damage that a recall or someone getting hurt can cause can last for years and cost millions of dollars or more in lost revenue and PR hits.

When it comes to the most robust asset protection, you may want to opt for digital data loggers that are compatible with remote monitoring software, as Dickson discusses here. These data loggers are part of the Internet of Things (IoT) so they can connect to the internet and transmit their data to another location.

This capability is a major breakthrough for asset protection because it makes it much easier to catch problems quickly before they lead to asset destruction or unsafe products. Creating customized alerts and the ability to monitor in real-time are two reasons remote environmental monitoring gives companies a leg up.

Compliance

In highly regulated industries, compliance is incredibly important. For one, it helps avoid the nightmares that come with producing unsafe or ineffective products as described above. Staying compliant with regulations also helps avoid fines or costly and time-consuming shutdowns.

With regulations constantly shifting and changing, a company needs to be agile and adapt to the changing landscape. 

Digital data loggers help companies make these shifts in a much simpler and smoother manner than other tools. These devices are easy to adjust, especially if they are IoT compatible. Instead of compliance changes being a massive time-suck, digital data loggers make shifting easy so you can stay in compliance at all times.

Data tracking

Compliance and asset protection both fall under the same umbrella of quality control. If a company’s quality assurance practices are right they will produce a good quality product and the asset protection and compliance will take care of itself.

To have a great quality assurance program, organizations need as much data as possible. Data allows quality assurance professionals to accurately gauge the real situation and see where adjustments need to be made to uphold or increase the quality standards around a product.

Digital data loggers offer the best way to gather the quantity and quality of data you need for a hearty quality assurance program. Properly calibrated digital data loggers will provide precise information. This information can then be directly used with analytic software tools to help provide a clear picture of what’s happening and make the best data-driven decisions going forward.

Conclusion

Environmental monitoring is an incredibly important process, especially in heavily regulated industries. To facilitate this process, digital data loggers are key. These devices make the entire process easier and produce better results. Specifically, using digital data loggers helps companies that engage in environmental monitoring protect their assets, stay compliant, and gives them the data they need for a comprehensive quality assurance program.