Lot tracking

How lot tracking works

A lot is a group of units made or packed together under the same conditions. The manufacturer prints the lot number, and usually an expiry date, on each unit or case.

Say you receive 200 bottles of serum SRM-030 from lot LOT-0826, expiring in March 2027. At receiving, the lot and expiry are captured and attached to the stock. Putaway records that lot LOT-0826 sits in bin A-01-02. When an order is picked, the picker confirms the lot, and the shipment records which lot went to which customer. Every step leaves the lot attached to the quantity.

That chain lets you trace in both directions: backward from a customer complaint to the supplier delivery, and forward from a supplier warning to every order that contained the lot.

Why lot tracking matters

Lot tracking is standard in food, cosmetics, supplements, chemicals and any product with a shelf life or a quality risk.

• Recalls: you can pull one lot instead of every unit of the SKU, and contact only the customers who received it. See product recall.
• Rotation: with expiry dates on each lot, allocation can follow FEFO and ship the earliest-expiring stock first.
• Quality: complaints and returns can be grouped by lot to spot a bad batch or a weak supplier.
• Regulation: many regulated goods require batch records. Operations in those sectors must confirm their own requirements.

Lot tracking vs serial number tracking

A lot identifies a group; a serial number identifies one unit. Lot tracking tells you that 200 bottles came from LOT-0826; serial number tracking tells you that one specific router went to one specific customer. Consumables and perishables are usually lot tracked. High-value, warrantied goods are usually serial tracked. Some items need both.

Common lot tracking mistakes

Lot tracking fails quietly when one step skips the capture.

• Recording the lot at receiving but not confirming it at picking, so shipments can't be traced.
• Mixing two lots in one bin without recording both.
• Typing lot numbers by hand when the supplier's GS1 barcode already encodes them.
• Creating a new SKU per lot, which breaks reporting and reordering.

How NextStock handles lot tracking

In NextStock, lot and expiry are part of how stock is identified, alongside warehouse, location, SKU, owner, LPN and status. Receiving captures them, including from GS1-128 and DataMatrix barcodes, and allocation can follow FEFO. You can place a hold on a lot, and a recall shows exposure: what is still in stock, picked, packed, loaded or shipped, and to which customers. See lot and expiry tracking.