Set up your bakery’s traceability in a week
Integral plan
A five-day plan to get lot traceability in place: goods-in with lots, production orders that deduct, dispatches to customers and a drill.
What it is for
Traceability means being able to answer two questions in minutes: “which raw materials went into this lot?” and “which customers did it go to?”. The regulations require it, the inspector asks for it and so do your trade customers. On paper it means writing lots down in three different notebooks and cross-checking them when there is a problem.
In Recipok traceability is not extra work: it happens automatically if goods-in carry a lot, production orders deduct lots and dispatches carry the product’s lot. This five-day plan leaves the whole circuit set up in your bakery.
The circuit you are going to set up
Supplier lot L2410-77, expires 30/10, arrives at 3 °C.
Deducts L2410-77 and creates lot TQ-261016-000021.
4 cakes from lot TQ-261016-000021 with their delivery note.
- 1Goods-in records the supplier’s lot and expiry date.
- 2The production order deducts that lot and creates the finished product’s lot.
- 3The dispatch says which customer took which lot.
The plan, day by day
Monday: lots and stores
In Configuration › Nomenclature, decide how your production lots are numbered: for example, a recipe prefix, the date and a sequential number, so that two bakes on the same day never clash. Then create your locations (cold rooms, dry store) and tick Is storage on the ones that hold stock.
Tuesday: suppliers, ingredients and opening stock
Add your suppliers and the ingredients you buy. Then record what you already have in store with an opening stock entry per supplier: one line per lot, with its expiry date and location.
Wednesday: every purchase with its lot
From today, every delivery note is recorded in Purchasing › Goods received with lot, expiry date and arrival temperature. Print the lot QR codes and stick them on the packs: the production order will read them later. With the Integral plan, you can also photograph the delivery note and have Recipok read it. See Goods-in.
Thursday: production orders that deduct lots
Create the day’s orders with New production order. In Lot Assignment, the team scans the QR code of the pack they are using and clicks Discount lots. When they finish, Finish production creates the product’s lot and lets you print its label. See Production orders.
Friday: dispatches and first drill
Deliver with a dispatch in Sales › Dispatches: when you click Confirm output, lines without a lot are given the one with the nearest expiry date. Then open the Traceability drill, type a supplier lot and check that its products and customers come up. Click File drill to save it as evidence.
How to look it up later
- Lot movements (Stock management): every entry, use, dispatch and adjustment of a lot, in Excel or PDF. See Lot traceability.
- Traceability drill: the complete tree of a lot, backwards and forwards, with its PDF report. It needs the HACCP records module.
- Production report for each order: the lots used, who made it and how much came out.
The cause 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. Find the missing link and fix it.
Tips
- If your labels already use a lot system, replicate it in the nomenclature: your customers recognise it.
- Correcting stock is not deleting: it is done with an adjustment with a reason, and it stays in the history.
- Get ready for the inspection too: How to prepare for a health inspection.
Create your account and go through the whole path with a single product: one goods-in, one production order and one dispatch. In an afternoon you will see your first traceability tree.