How to Get Lot Control with Fresh Produce — Produce Inventory Control System

Lot Control with Automatic Traceability is Possible with PICS…

Step 1: Watch this PICS Video. It shows what running lot control – complete with work orders – is all about.
Step 2: Implement Lot Control. This involves switching on a flag in the Stock Items you plan to track (likely all of them). Press F1 in PICS to launch PICS Help. Search for the following topic which will give you more details, “Switching From Static Lot to Lot Controlled Environment”.
Step 3: Start Labeling Incoming Products. The could be as simple as writing the lot # on products as they come in, or printing labels from PICS and putting them on the products. See example here: https://www.produceinventory.com/files/sample-reports/Stock_Case_Label_PTI.pdf
Step 4: Learn How to Deal with “Split Lots” Using the PICS Sales Order Screen. For some, this means replacing the Point of Sale screen you currently use. You need to be able to track when a quantity of product shipped to a customer is made up of multiple lots. Example:

- You purchase/receive bags of potatoes from Supplier A and from Supplier B. Each would get its own lot #.
- A customer orders 10 bags. You only have 6 bags left from Supplier A.
- The Sales Order line for the customer would be for 10 bags, but on the shipping screen you would enter 6 bags from Supplier A and 4 bags from Supplier B.

Step 5: Decide How to Handle Product that you Pack or Re-Pack. You could use the PICS Repack screen, which allows a single input and output, or the PICS Work Order screen (an add-on module) which allows multiple inputs and outputs.
Step 6: Label the Outputs of the Re-pack or Work Order Screen. When you make something into something else, the output(s) are assigned new lot numbers.

Ready to get started with Lot Control? Contact us today.