Lot tracking enables the tracing of both purchased material lots and own manufactured lots through production and to the customer.
Lot tracking would normally only be used for key components and finished products as it involves a certain amount of extra data entry. When a component has lot tracking enabled, the user is requested to enter the manufacturer’s lot numbers when receiving the materials. When the material is issued to a work order again the lot numbers must be entered. The lot numbers of manufactured products must be created in the system when completing the work order. The default lot number for manufactured products is the same as the work order number, but other numbers may also be used. When shipping product to customers the lot numbers must be selected again.
In this way it is possible to have material traceability both forwards and backwards through the system. For instance if a customer complains of a faulty product due to a quality problem with a component of that product, it is possible to trace back to the work orders where all of that component lot has been used and then forward to all customers who have been shipped product with that faulty component.
Lots may have a due date and can be manually edited and closed.
Lot tracking is enabled for a particular material by marking the check box property of that material Item in the Technical tab in the item’s card.
Creating lots in material receipts and work orders.
Any activity that involves the transfer of materials into or out of inventory requires that lot numbers are entered for those materials where lot tracking is enabled. When materials are coming into inventory a lot is created.
When receiving materials or completing a work order, press the lot tracking button on the work order screen. There is a default line with the correct quantity where the lot number should be entered. If there are many lots to be entered it may be convenient to use a bar code reader to enter the data. Adjust the lot quantity if there is going to be more than one lot. Optionally enter a due date and any comments. If necessary add more lots until the whole quantity is accounted for.
In work orders it is possible to increase the quantities of existing lots as an alternative to creating new lots. This may be done if the policy is that a single lot may span more than one work order.
Using lots in sales order dispatch and work orders
When lots are being sent out from inventory, either to a work order or as product to a customer, lot numbers need to be recorded for the lot quantities. Quantities of existing lots are reduced. Lot tracking is shown on the Traceability tab. A list of available lots is shown. Enter the correct quantities and save the form. The grid will also show the list of lots used in the work order or dispatch.
Reporting lot usage
The ‘Lot history’ report is available from the dropdown list of reports found in the Traceability side menu. This shows the usage of all lots for a material item and can also be retrieved by a lot number.