Is anyone else using lot or batch numbers?

[HeleneWallis]

Because my company makes food products, we have to track lot numbers for everything. That means not just the products themselves, but also who buys each one. I've been doing it manually so far, but our sales and the number of things we sell has increased to the point where it's no longer feasible to do that. I tried setting up a new product every time a lot number changed, but that was even more work. I tried using the model number field for a batch or lot number, but there is no way (or at least no obvious way) to list who bought which 'model' number. If I ever had a product problem that required a recall, I would have to be able to print a list of everyone who bought that lot number of that product.

Any suggestions?

[mc12345678]

I haven't looked at the latest version of it, but the plugin sales report, looks like it could be slightly modified to search orders by model number if you so chose to use that as your field for tracking.

Another thought is, let's say you have a particular quantity of lot A still on hand, but have received a quantity of lot B. While perhaps generally speaking, it could be confusing to customers to have more than one option of something, it seems that ideally there are/would be two things that might work for you.

So, the first issue identified is the need to track by history, that is/can be done by review of orders data. As said, something like sales report or another similar plugin would support looking for items ordered that meet a certain criteria.

Then there is the issue of quantity of batch related items. I could see two things working here. One, the total quantity of product to handle/ensure that you don't oversell. Two is possibly an additional table that has maybe four fields (minimum) tracking_id, products_id, batch number, and quantity of that batch number.

I don't know details about your batch numbering system, but ideally the batch numbers are in some sorted order such that the next batch is a "larger" designation than the previous. During the order checkout process, the order information would get updated using the lowest designation of batch number provided that the order could be completed with that batch, otherwise, use up that batch and begin into the next one. Reduce the quantity(ies) of product in each applicable batch. Keep the total number of product in the batch groups equal to the total quantity of product and the process should work to prevent overselling (if that is to be prevented) and the ability to track a specific batch. As to how to track, might append the batch number to the model number when storing the data so don't have to create a new field in the database and a batch "number" could be reused in the grand scheme of things, but because it might be associated with a unique model# then that all could be independent/unique... presumably...

To accomplish, might require some custom coding. The condition is unique because there is actually a desire to deplete a stock quantity of a particular sub group before any other. Especially in the area of produce to some extent. (assumes that a new quantity is expected to last longer than a previously received quantity.)

[HeleneWallis]

I already use the sales report (and a very useful plug in it is). But I didn't think the model number was part of the order record detail. Turns out it is. So I can add whatever the sales report needs in order to print by model number. Thank you for prompting me to check that. I had assumed there wouldn't be any reason for it to be part of the order record detail. That's what you get for making assumptions, lol.

Inventory levels aren't a problem yet. Our physical inventory is still small enough that I can hold onto newly created batches until the current one is gone from the shelves, and then go and change both the lot number and the inventory amount.