DOC-INV-08 · Rev C
Lots and serials
Per-item tracking of batches and individual units, from goods receipt or job completion through to the order they shipped on.
01Why it exists
Quantity is enough for bolts. It is not enough for a heat-numbered bar, a certified casting or a serialised assembly, where the question is never “how many” but “which one, from where, and where did it go”. Tracking is switched on per item so the items that need it get it and everything else stays simple.
02Choose a mode
- Quantity only — the default. Nothing changes.
- Lot — one batch, heat or certificate number per receipt, with a quantity that draws down as it is used. Several receipts can share a lot code at one location.
- Serial — one code per unit. A serial can only be in stock once.
The mode is set on the item’s Overview tab and can only change while the item has nothing on hand.
03Where codes come from
- Goods receipt — the receive screen (phone or desktop) asks for the lot number or the serials on each tracked line.
- Job completion — a tracked item made in-house mints its codes: the lot is the job number, serials are the job number plus 001, 002… Labels are offered straight away.
- Stock dialog — a manual receipt or adjustment for a tracked item asks for codes the same way.
04Where they go
Issues, moves, job releases and order despatches draw units down oldest-first unless you name the codes. A unit that goes into a job is marked issued against that job; one despatched on an order is marked despatched and listed on the order line; a scrap adjustment marks it scrapped. Moving stock between locations re-homes the unit without changing its status.
05Genealogy
Every unit has a QR label. Scanning it opens the unit’s page: item, kind, code, current location and quantity, and the ordered list of movements that touched it — received on this PO, moved here, consumed by this job, produced by that job, despatched on this order. The inventory item page lists all units for the item; the job and order pages list the units involved in them.
See also
Stock by item and location, with a signed movement ledger behind every number. Nothing changes stock without a movement.
Book a supplier delivery in from the dock with a phone: scan the PO, confirm what arrived, print labels, put it away.
Production jobs: draft → released → in progress → completed. Releasing issues materials from stock; completing books the finished parts back in.
All customer orders, moved through Received → In production → QC → Invoiced → Shipped → Completed. Production, invoicing and payment hang off each order.
The phone-first workspace behind every printed QR: parts, locations, job packs, purchase orders, Kanban cards and lot / serial labels.
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