Utilizing Lot Control

Lot Control ensures that vendor lots are recorded when raw materials are received on purchase orders, and that the exact lots of materials used are recorded when issuing materials to jobs or shipping product to customers. Using lot control allows inventory to be tracked from vendor, through internal processes, and to an end customer. Lot Control in DEACOM is optional and is established on an item by item bases. This means that some items can have absolutely no Lot Control, while others may have strict Lot Control. Within DEACOM lots are created during one of the five below transactions:

  • PO Receipt
  • Input Production
  • Produce Assemblies
  • Inventory Adjustment (adjust in only)
  • Product Return – Negative Quantity Sales Order

All inventory in DEACOM has a User Lot and System Lot. User lots will typically correspond to the vendor lot number, or internal lot numbers for produced material. In instances where a user defined lot is not required the User Lot and the System Lot will be the same. System lots are sequential numbers, that DEACOM will automatically generate any time new inventory is received into the system, from one of the five transactions above. System lots will be created and exist for all inventory, regardless of user lot control settings.

Note: Beginning in version 17.01.003, lot control can be maintained on Facility-speicifc parts. This feature is useful in situations where companies have multiple Facilities and only require strict lot control in certain ones, allowing the other Facilites to assign/backflush lots automatically, and therefore make daily/weekly production easier and potentially faster. Additional information is available via the Facility Part Cross References page.

How are lots used in DEACOM?

The System Lot is the driving force behind lot control and should be considered the Lot Number for working within DEACOM. The User Lot Number should be used as a placeholder for lot number information used for either Vendor or Customer lot numbers and should not be used as the true lot identifier for working within DEACOM. That said, companies often benefit from the ability to define User Lots values containing a scheme or logic useful for their operations.

How do lots affect operations?

The System Lot Number drives the FIFO process in DEACOM, which is especially important when putting away raw materials and finished goods. When putting away material, try to place product in open locations in an orderly fashion. This will reduce the number of back and forth movements within the warehouse when issuing and reserving materials.

In what FIFO order does the system select lots?

  1. Expiration Date - the first lot to expire.
  2. Lot Date - after prioritizing all lots with Expiration Dates, the system will select the oldest lot first, including lots without expiration dates.
  3. Quantity - in the event of multiple lots with the same Lot Date and/or Expiration Date, the system will select the smallest quantity first.
  4. Unique Lot ID - in cases where multiple lots have the same values for points 1-3, the system will select the lot based on the first Unique Lot ID.

Configuration

Prior to enabling Lot Control in DEACOM, the following system and Item Master defaults will need to be setup or considered.

  • "Lot # Expression" - Optional. DEACOM will use the DEACOM job number as the user lot by default when finishing material on Production Jobs. If this is acceptable, companies do not need make changes or populate the "Lot # Expression" field via Inventory > Options. If this is undesired, the company may enter an expression in the "Lot # Expression" field via the link above.
  • "Require Lot Control When Relieving" - if checked, users will be required to define a User Lot Number when issuing, reserving, shipping, or adjusting material (removing from inventory). “Require Lot Control When Relieving” is an item property. This includes using the Move Inventory and Produce Assemblies (specifying Parts to Consume) forms.
  • "Require User Lot on Receipt" - if checked, users will be required to define a User Lot Number when receiving, adjusting (adding to inventory), or returning material. “Require User Lot on Receipt” is also an item property. This includes using the Produce Assemblies (specifying Parts to Produce) form.

Note: The properties and fields above are the driving force to ensure Lot Control is enabled in DEACOM. Additional lot related options and preferences, in terms of how lots will be displayed to users, and how they will be printed on Part Forms and Reports in DEACOM are available via System > Options, Customer Cross Reference Parts, and Facility records. During the implementation process, Deacom team members will review these options.

Process

Enabling Lot Control on Item Masters

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Master.
  2. The "Items" pre-filter will be displayed.
  3. Fill out the pre-filter as desired and click the "View" button to generate a list of items.
  4. Select a part in the list and click the "Modify" button to display the "Edit Item Master" form.
  5. Click on the "Properties" tab.
  6. Click one or both of the two property flags below depending on your company requirements.
    1. "Require User Lot On Receipt" - Click to ensure a User Lot is entered during receipt of material, input of production and when adjusting inventory on hand.
    2. "Require Lot Control When Relieve" - If clicked, the user will be required to define a lot number when issuing, reserving, shipping or adjusting in this material.
  7. Click the "Save" button to complete the process and save the item master record.

Note: DEACOM offers the ability to update multiple Item Master records simultaneously via the Price Updates Item Master Modification Tool.

Inheriting Lot information from bulk product

DEACOM has the ability for Finished Goods to inherit Lot information, such as User Lot, Expiration Date, and Lot Attributes, from bulk products. These settings are configured using the "Propagate Expiration Date", "Propagate User Lot", and "Propagate Lot Attributes" flags on BOM lines. For more information, refer to the Additional Options When Managing Formula Revisions page.

Lot reporting

The following reports, available via Inventory > Inventory Reporting, are useful for providing detailed lot information. For additional reports available and steps on how to generate them, refer to the Inventory Flow and Reporting page.

  • Lots - System and User Lot-level detail, showing the quantity and value of each system lot. Information and quantities are based on the end of day data. It is best to update lot properties and perform transactions, such as moving and adjusting, directly from the Lots report. This report is a snapshot in time so transaction dates are critical when analyzing the data. The Subtotal Report icon can be used on the Lots report to generate a value of inventory by facility report.
    • Note: Quarantined inventory lots displayed in this report may be be adjusted in/out via the Adjust On Hand button.
  • Lot Summary - Summary level, by item number, location, and lot number. Drill down to detail information is available. The "fi_container" field is available to the grid in this report and the report can be sorted by this field as well.
  • Lot Tracking Explosion - Tracking report for selected lot number, showing all jobs the lot was created on, all materials created on the job, all lots and materials issued to the job, and all purchase orders and inventory adjustments where the materials used on the jobs came from. The Lot Tracking Explosion report “Opens up” the specified lot and tells the user: “What is in this lot and where did it come from?”
    • Note: When running the report with a type of "Finish", the report will trickle down and show all the lots for all the finishes.
  • Lot Tracking Implosion - Tracking report for selected lot number, showing all transactions where lot was used. When filtered for a specific lot, the report will show all purchase orders and inventory moves from QC where the lot was created in DEACOM, all inventory moves, all inventory adjustments, all jobs the lot was issued to, all products made on that job and all customers that the products were shipped to, as well as all current on hand inventory that contains that lot. In short, the lot tracking implosion report answers the question: “Where was this lot used?” This report is extremely useful in case of a product recall. The results in this report are shown in the following order: Sources, Usage, and Remaining On Hand.
  • Lot Summary - Attributes - Summary report by Part Number, Location, and Lot, with the "fi_container" field available to the grid. Useful when Lots have the same User Lot but different Lot Attribute values and users want to see a detailed report (vs the "Lot Summary - User Lot" report).
  • Lot Summary - System Lot - Similar to the "Lot Summary - Attributes" report, except only grouped by Part ID, Facility, and System Lot.
  • Lot Summary - User Lot - Similar to the "Lot Summary - Attributes" report, except only grouped by Part ID, Facility, and User Lot.Useful when Lots have the same User Lot but different Lot Attribute values and users want to see a summarized report (vs the "Lot Summary - Attributes" report).