Manage Serial Number/Batch in ERPNext

Efficient Inventory Management, especially with the inclusion of serial and batch numbers, is a critical aspect of industrial operations. This functionality enables the tracking of inventory within the system, facilitating enhanced reporting based on the unique serial numbers and batches associated with items.

ERPNext provides comprehensive tools for managing inventory with serial numbers and batches. Let's delve into the process of managing serial numbers and batches in ERPNext:

● Navigate to stock > Serial No and batch > serial No/Batch

● Serial Number: Serial numbers serve as unique identifiers for individual units of an item. They play a crucial role in tracking information based on both the location and serial numbers within the system.

Requisite for creating a serial number:

● Item > under the inventory tab > make sure to enable the option of “Has serial No”.

To automatically generate serial numbers based on the quantity of items purchased from a supplier, the system creates a corresponding number of serial numbers only if the "has serial number" feature is enabled. For instance, let's consider purchasing one item with a quantity of 5, and the "has serial number" option is selected.

● Navigate to Buying > create a purchase order > add that item with serial number and quantity to be purchased and proceed the purchase order save and submit it.

Subsequently, proceed to create a purchase receipt by clicking on "Create," selecting "Purchase Receipt," and then saving and submitting the document. This action triggers the automatic generation of serial numbers associated with the purchased items.

We can track these serial numbers by going into Stock > Serial No. and Batch > Serial No.

The serial number can be also created manually, to do so , navigate to the stock > serial no and batch > serial no > add serial number.

You may define serial number, item code and related details will be auto fetched.

● Batch:

In simple terms a batch can be defined as a particular batch number that includes an item with a number of units that is stocked in one unique batch number.

Let’s see how we can create new batch:

● Navigate to stock > Serial No and batch > serial No/Batch

Requisite for creating a serial number:

● Item > under the inventory tab > make sure to enable the option of “Has Batch No”.

To create an automatic batch, we need to enable the option “ automatic create new batch” in the item master.

Consider a scenario where we are purchasing items in batches, with 20 units per item and a batch size of 5 quantities per batch. To initiate this process, start by creating a purchase order. Include the item that is tracked by batch and proceed to confirm the order.

Next step is to create a purchase receipt and submit it.

The system will generate a batch containing 20 units, and we can track it by navigating to Stock > Serial Number and Batch > Batch.

If there is a need to separate quantities from the batch, the system provides an option to split the batch. This can be done by accessing the batch and clicking on the "Split" option. The system will prompt for a new batch ID and batch quantity, allowing us to define the quantity to be split and assign a new batch ID.