How lot traceability works
Integral plan
Understand how Recipok follows each lot from the delivery note to the customer, and look up lot movements.
What it is for
Traceability means being able to answer two questions for any lot: what was it made with? and who has it reached? Food law requires it (one step back and one step forward) and it is the first thing you are asked for in an inspection, in an audit or when a supplier issues an alert.
In Recipok traceability isn’t written up separately: it comes out of your daily work automatically. Each delivery note creates lots, each production order uses lots and creates a new one, and each dispatch takes the lot to the customer. This article explains how the pieces fit together and where to look up a lot’s journey.
It is used by the quality manager, the supervisor and the owner of the bakery.
Before you start
- Lot traceability is included in the Integral plan, together with goods-in, stock and dispatches.
- You need your suppliers, your customers, complete recipes and your storage locations created.
- Set up the lot nomenclature for your production orders so that the number is easy to read on the label.
How it is built: from end to end
The delivery note creates one lot per line: supplier, lot, expiry date, location.
It deducts the ingredient lots used and, when finished, creates the product’s lot.
Waste, stocktaking and changes of warehouse, always with a reason.
The sales delivery note takes the product’s lot to the customer.
Goods-in with lot and expiry date
Each line on the delivery note is a lot. Type the lot from the packaging, the expiry date and the location, or let the scanner read it. See Raw material goods-in.
Production orders that deduct lots
On the production order, each ingredient has its Lot Assignment. Scan the QR code on the packaging, choose the lot from the list or type it in by hand, and click Discount lots. When you click Finish production, the product’s lot is created, with its date and expiry date. If you made a mistake, Cancel batches reverses it. See Production orders.
Chained semi-finished products
A biscuit base that has been produced has its own lot; when you use it in the cheesecake, it is deducted like any ingredient. That way the chain goes all the way back to the flour supplier.
Dispatches with a lot
In each dispatch or sales delivery note you choose the lot; if you don’t, Recipok assigns the one that expires first. See Dispatches and delivery notes.
If the production order always deducts “the first lot that comes up” instead of the pack that was actually opened, the system will say the cake contains a lot it doesn’t contain. The most reliable way is to stick the QR label on the box when it arrives and scan it in the production order. See Lot QR codes.
Look up a lot’s movements
Go to Stock management › Lot movements: “View all stock movements associated with a lot.”
| Identification | Product | Type | In | Out | Lot | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALB-2026-4471 | Cream cheese | Supplier entry | 12 kg | L24-0912 | 30/09/2026 | |
| PP-000014 | Cream cheese | Production consumption | 6 kg | L24-0912 | 30/09/2026 | |
| PP-000015 | Cream cheese | Production consumption | 4 kg | L24-0912 | 01/10/2026 | |
| ADJ-0007 | Cream cheese | 3Stock adjustment | 0.5 kg | L24-0912 | 02/10/2026 |
- 1Filter by lot number, product, identification or date range.
- 2Export to PDF or Excel for the inspection or for your customer.
- 3Adjustments carry their reason and their user; open them to see the details.
Each movement has a Type:
| Type | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Supplier entry | A raw material goods-in (delivery note or invoice). |
| Production consumption | A production order that deducted that lot. |
| Production entry | A finished production order that created the product’s lot. |
| Production order reversal | Lots returned to stock when a production order or its lots are cancelled. |
| Stock adjustment · Entry correction | Quantity changes with a reason: waste, stocktaking, mistakes on a delivery note. |
| Exit · Return | Sales delivery notes and customer returns. |
Click a row to see the details: user, reason, notes and total stock. With View all stock movements you widen the search to the whole product.
Other traceability tools
- Forward and backward traceability: which customers a lot went to and which raw materials a product came from.
- Traceability drill: both directions of a lot on one sheet, with its PDF report.
- The production report for each production order: the lots used, who made it and how much came out.
Tips
- If a lot has no history, the fault is in one of three places: the goods-in wasn’t recorded, the production order didn’t deduct lots or the dispatch doesn’t carry the lot.
- Run a drill as soon as you have three or four real production orders: it is the best proof that everything fits together.
- If you want to set it up quickly, follow the use case Traceability in a week.