Disclosed herein are systems and methods for managing surgical instruments. The method includes storing expected processing times associated with managing a group of surgical instrument trays being processed through a sterilization processing department, the expected processing times comprising at least a first expected processing time associated with the first portion of processing the group of surgical instrument trays through the department and a second expected processing time associated with the second portion of processing the group of surgical instrument trays, tracking, in real-time, the group of surgical instrument trays through the sterilization processing department and comparing the time-based data to the expected processing times to identify a discrepancy associated with a respective surgical instrument tray of the group of surgical instrument trays. The method includes identifying metadata associated with the respective surgical instrument tray and transmitting an alert to a device based on the discrepancy and the metadata.
