With product tracking, you can track products in internal warehouse movements and inbound and outbound documents.
There are three different ways you can track your products within an ERP/MRP system:
1. SKU Numbers
2. Serial Numbers
3. Lot Numbers
You can choose whether you will use just one option, two of them, or all three. This is based on your needs and your business type.
When you work with serial, lot, or SKU numbers, Erpag collects information about availability and displays it on the different product pages. This allows you to check which part of a lot, serial, or SKU number is currently used in other documents. This reduces the errors and uncertainties caused by the lack of transparency when it comes to product availability.
SKU Numbers
The SKU number is actually the Stock Keeping Unit. This is an alphanumeric field and it is the simplest way to track your items. Using the SKU is already an upgrade from using only the item name/description. The SKU can indicate more information about the item. Each character in the SKU can and should be meaningful and you can learn how to achieve that at the following link:
https://www.erpag.com/news/what-is-sku
The item SKU is also a very important factor in reporting. This is crucial for accuracy because even though the item descriptions can be the same in some cases (for example, one banana and a package of bananas might have the same description even though the unit of measure is different, or a t-shirt in two sizes might also carry the same description), the SKU has to be unique.
SERIAL Numbers
Unlike SKU numbers, which are unique numbers for different products, the serial numbers are unique for each piece of product.
This allows very detailed tracking of each unit and it can help identify if there’s a problem in the manufacturing process and exactly where that problem is. It’s also useful for customer warranties since the serial number is recorded against an exact sale and shown in the customer purchase record.
LOT Numbers
Lot numbers are batch numbers, and they have an expiration date attached that follows the item through the inventory movement.
In Erpag, lot numbers also allow you to track the batches very closely, from the point that they enter the inventory, to the point they are out of the inventory.
This report, in combination with the serial numbers that can be filtered out, gives the highest traceability levels a system can offer.
You can also add custom information to each lot number in the designated custom fields, which will also follow along with that lot number through the inventory movement.
You can read more on how to track the serial and lot numbers in Erpag on the following link:
https://www.erpag.com/news/serial-lot-batch-number-tracking
Product batch and serial numbers can be tracked either forward or backward, through the supply chain. This is useful for ensuring overall quality and for product recall.
Controlling serial or lot number issues is a common task in different warehouse processes.
In some processes, inventory items do not carry any item tracking numbers and the warehouse worker must assign new ones during receiving or packing, usually from a series of predefined numbers.
This is prone to human error, and that is why your goal should be to automate this process!
In simple processes, inventory items already have serial or batch numbers, assigned at the moment those items enter the stock. These numbers are automatically transferred through all warehouse activities without interaction with warehouse workers.
Tracking your products will help you minimize the effort and maximize the results when it comes to inventory management!
So check out https://www.erpag.com/ and start an Erpag free trial to start tracking now!
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