Depending on which subscription level you are on, there are some great alternatives to manage items with multiple Batch, Expiry or Lot Codes with a view to making product recall easy.
If you are on one of our Starter or Basic plans, you can incorporate the lot code into the SKU / Stock Item Code or Stock Item Description to help keep track of which Lot Code has been sent to which customers.
However, if you are on one of our Standard or Premium subscriptions, you have a few more choices to help match your needs.
If you are not concerned with keeping track of which Lot Codes you have in inventory but still want to record which lots are sent to which customers, from the Sales Order choose the “Pick for Despatch” option on the Despatch button. Then, when sending out your items, simply record the actual Lot Code you send for each item on the despatch line item.
If you are also concerned about the stock levels of each batch, then you may want to copy the existing Stock Item for each new lot that you buy or produce and incorporate the lot code into the SKU of each new batch or lot.
For example:
“Traditional Apple Cider (500ml bottle) L2017-004”
“Traditional Apple Cider (500ml bottle) L2017-023”
However, if you sell these different SKUs with different lot codes in them, your sales reporting could be more detailed than you want. A great way to do this is to set up one SKU to sell and many SKUs to deliver.
For example, your sales people sell: “Traditional Apple Cider (500ml bottle)” but this SKU has no inventory, while your warehouse and logistics people deliver lot-specific SKUs that do have inventory, such as:
“Traditional Apple Cider (500ml bottle) L2017-004”
“Traditional Apple Cider (500ml bottle) L2017-023”
This is easy to set up, gives detailed traceability for product recall, and keeps sales reporting simplified under the parent SKU. You can find instructions on how to do this at Stock Items / Lot Codes.