inFlow Inventory lanza el seguimiento de números de lote y fechas de caducidad

inFlow Inventory has launched a lot number and expiry date tracking system, offering small and medium-sized manufacturers and distributors complete lot-level traceability through purchasing, production, sales, and shipping.

Know exactly which batch is about to expire, and where it's sitting. Lot number and expiry date tracking is now available in inFlow Inventory and inFlow Manufacturing.

This new feature comes after two years of development and a year of testing with food manufacturers, pharmaceutical distributors, and medical device companies. inFlow now offers lot number tracking — a feature traditionally reserved for high-end companies — to small businesses that needed it but perhaps could not afford it.

Many small food producers still track lot numbers manually on spreadsheets. They note down lots as they receive them and manually cross-reference them if a recall happens. This manual process is time-consuming and not scalable. The alternative has been an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which typically involves a paid implementation measured in months and a budget of tens of thousands of dollars. Faced with the high costs of an ERP, most small manufacturers and distributors continue to use their spreadsheets or paper-based systems.

What it does

Tracks a lot from receiving to customer. Every lot carries a complete history of movement: when it arrived, what it was used for, where it was stored, and who bought it. A recall becomes a simple report to generate, rather than an investigation to initiate.

Prevents near-expiry stock from becoming a loss. Set an expiry date once, and inFlow calculates expiry dates for each incoming lot. An expiry date report sorts stock by expired, nearing expiry, or past expiry dates, identifying inventory at risk while there's still time to sell it.

Automatically ships the oldest stock first. inFlow tells staff which lot to pick, prioritizing by sell-by date, then expiry date, and finally manufacturing date. The software incorporates the 'first-to-expire, first-out' principle.

Enhanced GS1 barcode compatibility. inFlow reads GS1 QR codes, GS1-128 barcodes, and GS1 DataMatrix, capturing lot and expiry date details in a single scan. It also generates and prints GS1 Digital Link QR codes for company labels.

Tracks lots and serial numbers together. A single product can have both a lot code and a unique identifier per unit, a rare combination outside of enterprise systems.

Works in the warehouse. Lot tracking runs on inFlow Inventory for Web, inFlow Manufacturing, and inFlow Mobile, allowing lot scanning during receiving, picking, and putaway. And much more. Teams can also generate lot codes in a standardized format, change the nam...