What Is Lot Tracking?

Lot tracking records which batch every unit of inventory came from, and follows that batch through receiving, production, and shipment — so you can answer where material came from and where it went.

The Basics

A lot is a group of items produced or received together — one delivery from a supplier, one production run, one batch of raw material. When a lot number is assigned at receipt, every downstream transaction inherits it. The finished goods you ship carry a record of the components that went into them.

That record is what makes a recall, an audit, or a customer complaint a contained event instead of a company-wide search. Instead of pulling every unit of a product, you pull the affected lot and the specific orders it shipped on.

Traceability

Trace forward from a supplier lot to every customer who received it, or backward from a complaint to its source.

Expiration Control

Pick by first-expiring-first-out so short-dated stock moves before it becomes a write-off.

Quality Holds

Quarantine a questionable lot in place, so it cannot be allocated or shipped while it is under review.

Audit Records

Produce the documentation regulators and customers ask for without reconstructing it from paper.