Traceability of lot
and serial numbers
Know for every product where it came from, where it went and what happened to it in between. The trace builds itself as you scan, so you do not need a second set of records.
Traceability is being able to establish, for any product, where it came from and where it went. In a trading business that comes down to two things: lot or batch numbers for consignments, and serial numbers for individual units. Register both at goods receipt and at delivery, and you answer a question about a recall or a warranty in minutes instead of days.
The information usually exists. It sits on delivery notes, in a spreadsheet or in the head of the warehouse manager. It is just never in one place. That is why every question costs hours of searching, and why there is always a chance you miss that one customer.
What is traceability?
Traceability means you can demonstrate, for any product, where it came from and where it went. That works in two directions. Backwards you find the supplier, the purchase order and the goods receipt date. Forwards you find every customer who received something from the same batch, with the matching delivery note and invoice.
Without a system that registration happens on paper and in spreadsheets. With a system it builds itself as you work, because every scan records what actually passes through your hands. Software that supports this is known as traceability software or track and trace software.
Serial numbers: from purchase date
to warranty and service
If you sell machines, appliances or equipment, an article number is not enough. You want to know which unit sits with which customer, and what has happened to it. A serial number turns every unit into a file of its own.
- At goods receipt you record the serial number, together with the supplier, the purchase order and the purchase date.
- At delivery that same number links itself to the customer, the delivery note and the invoice.
- Every intervention is added underneath: which technician, which work order and which parts were replaced.
- The warranty period runs along from the purchase or delivery date, so you see at once whether a repair falls inside or outside warranty.
- On a return or RMA you know when the unit was sold and what has been done to it since.
That mainly saves discussion. A customer calling about a fault does not have to wait for someone to dig up the file. Before the technician leaves, he sees which parts have already been replaced and which warranty terms apply. Repairs that fall outside warranty are no longer given away for free.
More about digital work ordersLot and batch tracking:
from registration to recall
If you work with lots or batches, you are not tracking a single unit but a group. The batch arrives as one consignment and shrinks as you sell or consume it. Traceability here comes down to two questions: where did this batch go, and how much of it do I have left?
- Purchasing with batch registration: at goods receipt you register the batch with supplier, purchase order, receipt date and expiry date. The batch gets its own barcode.
- Consumption and remaining stock: per batch you see how much came in, how much went out and how much is still there.
- Picking on shelf life: the system sends the warehouse staff to the batch that expires first.
- Recall: one search on the batch number shows the origin and every customer who received something from that batch.
- Blocking: you set a suspect batch to blocked, so nobody can still pick or invoice it.
In a recall, speed is what counts. Register your batches and you call the nine customers concerned. Skip that and you write to your entire customer base, and take back stock that was perfectly fine. The difference is not in the effort afterwards, but in that one scan at goods receipt.
Assembly: new products
from batches and serial numbers
Many trading businesses sell more than what they buy in. They put together kits, build up units or assemble parts into one finished article. That stays traceable too, provided the assembly knows what it consists of.
- In a bill of materials you record which parts an assembly consists of.
- While assembling, you scan or select the batches and serial numbers you actually use.
- The assembly gets a lot or serial number of its own, depending on what you sell.
- Afterwards it stays visible which part from which batch went into which finished product.
- If a component turns out to be faulty, you search on that component and see every assembly it sits in, plus every customer who received one.
That way the trace runs in both directions straight through the assembly. From a delivered unit you find the parts used. From a suspect part you find the units it is built into. Without that link, your traceability stops exactly at the point where you build something yourself.
Traceability is more than a tick box for the inspector
For food businesses, traceability is simply mandatory. Article 18 of European regulation 178/2002 requires every food business, wholesalers and distributors included, to be able to establish who a product came from and who it was supplied to. You have to produce those records for the competent authorities on request.
In other sectors nothing is written into law, but the consequences are just as concrete. A manufacturer recalling a part expects a list from you. A customer claiming warranty expects an answer the same day. An insurer looking at liability asks about your records.
More and more buyers make it a condition as well. Retail chains, hospitals and construction firms ask you to supply the lot or serial number with every delivery. Without that registration you are out before the conversation about price even starts.
In an incident it also saves real money. If you can recall precisely, you take back only the batch concerned. If you cannot, you take everything back as a precaution and compensate customers who had nothing wrong.
Spreadsheets work, right up to the moment it matters. A file has no scan moment, is kept in three places, and nobody knows which version is the latest.
Traceability belongs in your stock management, not next to it
A trace is only reliable if it hangs on one stock. If you sell through a B2B portal, a webshop, field reps and a shop, they all have to draw on the same stock. Otherwise the registration of one channel does not match the delivery of another.
In Deskflow, traceability therefore sits in stock management itself, with purchasing, orders, warehouse, work orders and invoicing on the same data. No separate module, no second set of records and no export file you have to maintain yourself.
More about online stock management · More about order tracking · More about e-invoicing via Peppol
Frequently asked questions about traceability
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