Stock Control Help
Traceability is an optional facility that provides the controls and functions you need to record and process traceable stock. When we refer to traceable stock, we mean stock items that are identified either as unique (by means of a serial number), or belonging to a batch of two or more similar items (by means of a batch number).
You may be familiar with serial numbers and batch numbers on products in everyday life. For example, a domestic appliance, such as a microwave oven, will probably have a serial number that uniquely identifies that particular item, even though it may have been manufactured on a production line along with many others. You may have seen batch numbers on rolls of wallpaper you buy from a DIY store, or on medicines, such as tablets, you buy from the pharmacy.
The purpose of assigning serial and batch numbers to products is to make them traceable. So if a problem is identified with a particular product, it can be traced to its source of supply or manufacture.
Serial and batch numbers usually originate from the production process. The method of production often determines which is the most appropriate form of product identification. Typically serial numbers appear on items of equipment from pocket calculators to automobiles, and are especially useful where any malfunction in an individual product can be traced to its point of manufacture.
There is no need to identify all the individual tablets in a packet of painkillers, but it might be useful for a pharmaceutical company to know from which production batch the tablets originated, just in case a quality issue arises. You have probably heard about ‘product recalls’ where a manufacturer or retailer has identified a problem in a particular item and advised members of the public who have bought similar items to return them as a safety precaution. Batch numbers help in these cases by limiting the recall to only those products most likely to be associated with the problem. Without the means to trace stock in such circumstances, manufacturers would have little idea about whether the problem was isolated or widespread; so the ability to trace products can be very important.
Being able to trace individual stock items is also useful for those companies who are not part of the manufacturing process. Suppose a company buys microwave ovens of the same type from more than one supplier to sell on to other establishments; if one of the items needs to be returned, a serial number might be the only means of identifying the supplier from which the particular oven originated (provided this information was recorded when the goods were received).
Being able to check batch numbers is also useful for the retail buyer. When you buy two or more rolls of printed wallpaper, you need to know that the rolls belong to the same batch because slight colour variations can arise between different production runs. You simply check that each roll has the same batch number.
Batch controlled items also have other attributes that you can monitor. For example, for perishable goods, you can record a ‘sell by’ and ‘use by’ date. Here are a few examples of items that are typically serial and batch controlled:
Serial numbered:
Electrical goods, like TVs, videos, computers and peripherals, etc.
Cars and other vehicles (the ‘serial’ number is often called the Vehicle Identification Number or VIN)
Machinery and engines
Components
Technical instruments
Watches
Batch numbered:
Materials such as rolls of fabric or wallpapers
Pharmaceutical products such as medicines and tablets
Foodstuffs
Liquids, such as chemicals including paints, dyes, and so on
Clothing
Processed raw materials, such as steel, glass, and so on
You can no doubt think of many other examples. In some cases, companies, such as manufacturers, might handle many different types of materials, components and finished goods and need to be able to trace all serial and batch numbered stocks passing through the business. You can record, maintain and monitor traceable items of different types from the source of supply, through warehouse storage, to delivery using the features within the system.
When you use Traceability, some new options, fields and commands appear in the software:
Options that control how traceable stock is managed;
New fields and forms to identify traceable items and store information about them;
Commands you use to record, process and monitor traceable stock.
Most of the changes are noticeable in the Stock application, since this is the application to which most of the new options and commands have been added. However, other applications are affected too, including Invoicing, Sales Order Processing and Purchase Order Processing. This is because these applications also affect the ‘movement’ (issues, returns and receipts) of stock items.
To be able to handle traceable stock, the application provides the means to:
Identify whether a stock item is traceable.
Identify whether a traceable stock item uses serial or batch number control.
Assign serial and batch numbers to traceable stock (either at the time it is booked into stock or at a later date).
Choose a particular serial numbered item or batch whenever stock is issued or returned.
Keep track of the traceable stock items so you know where they are and what has happened to them.