Intended Use for Lot Control

Lot Control is intended for use on identical Items which have a written or printed Lot Number. 

Note: Since Lots cannot mix on the shelf, using Lot Control takes up more space and may result in increased storage charges.

What If...

I have physically different versions of the same product?

• Don't use Lot Control! Instead, create a new item.

The Lot Number is not on my items?

• Don't use Lot Control! We won't be able to identify things on the shelf and we won't natively understand which Lots to use on your items.

I have different suppliers and want to keep inventory from each separate?

• Lot Control may only be used if the Lot Number is physically on the item. Your suppliers will need to add Lot Numbers to your items before they ship them. Using something like a PO number is brittle and confusing and is proven to cause headaches.

Lot Tracking 

When goods are manufactured, often they will be assigned a Lot Number to allow products to be traced back to their manufacturing run. In addition, perishable goods will contain an Expiration Date.

• During receiving, the Lot Number of a sample product will be captured by staff and saved to the assigned Location. If the product contains an expiration date in addition to a Lot Number, it will also be captured.
• Lot controlled products will always be received into distinct locations. Only items that arrived on the same Ship Notice will be stored together. This allows us to trace the unit a customer received back to the Ship Notice the unit arrived on.

If Lot Tracking is enabled, Whiplash can reveal the Ship Notice for the goods a customer received. 

Settings

Lot Control should be configured for each individual item from the Lot Control tab of Item Details.

Ship Strategies

Whiplash supports several "Ship Strategies": Default, First Expired/First Out, and First In/First Out.
You can set the ship strategy in Customer Preferences as well as at the item level.

Default

Our Default Ship Strategy is to pick from the location with the lowest stock first, as this minimizes storage costs.

First In, First Out

By request, Whiplash is able to ship the oldest units of a product first. This is called First In, First Out (FIFO). By enabling FIFO on a customer account, Lot Tracking will be enabled automatically. Orders will continue to be assigned to the nearest in-stock facility, but within that facility the oldest inventory will be consumed first.

This strategy works around the Lot Control created_at timestamp. When an item gets lot control assigned during the Ship Notice receiving process, Whiplash registers the event as the Received on attribute. This is how we assign priority on the strategy picking.

Note: Received on is not based on when the item is physically placed into a location 

First Expired, First Out

Similar to FIFO, Whiplash also supports First Expired, First Out (FEFO). If expiration dates are captured during receiving, Whiplash will ship the oldest expiration date first. Additionally, Whiplash can generate reports upon request that highlight soon-to-expire products or products that are past their expiration date.

Known Limitations

Note: If a manufacturer sends multiple lots or expiration dates of a product on the same Ship Notice, Whiplash will not be able to differentiate between them. It is critical that you discuss your requirements with your manufacturer to ensure consistency inside the Whiplash facility.

FIFO, FEFO and Lot Control can only be applied to products sent after these options are activated. Inventory received before this will remain as they were received. 

The lot control setting in the Customer's "Preferences", "Lot Control" tab takes precedence over the Lot Control setting on the item level. If inventory consists of both Lot Controlled items and non-Lot Controlled items, it is best to have Lot Control off on the Customer level and turn it on in the item level for items that require it.

Related Questions:

What is Lot Control?

How to I activate Lot Control?

What is a Lot Number?

What Ship Strategies are supported by Whiplash?

What is FEFO?

What is FIFO?