07. Lots, Serials, and Batch Assignment

When a manufacturing order produces or consumes batch-tracked or serial-tracked products, Qoblex needs to know exactly which batch or serial numbers were made and which ones were used up. It collects this in a dialog titled Receive Batch, where you record the finished-goods batches produced and, for each consumed component, the input batches taken from stock.

This article explains when that dialog appears, how to fill in the finished-product and consumed-material sections, what Qoblex checks before it accepts your entries, and what you can and cannot change once the order is completed. After reading it you will be able to assign lots, serials, and batches correctly so that produced and consumed stock stays traceable through later sales, transfers, adjustments, and reports.

When the Receive Batch dialog opens

Qoblex opens the Receive Batch dialog during completion when either of these is true:

• One or more consumed component lines are batch-tracked or serial-tracked.
• The finished product is batch-tracked or serial-tracked.

You can also open it manually from the production order using the Lots & Serial button, which is shown only when the order already carries batch usages.

Batch assignment is only available on assembly orders. Disassembly orders do not support batch tracking (see the limitation at the end of this article).

Assign finished-product batches or serials

The top of the dialog is headed Finished Product Batch / Serial numbers, with the instruction to “Specify the batch number, serial numbers, and expiry date (optional) for the finished product.” The finished product and its yield quantity (for example, “x 10 units”) are shown at the top of the card.

To enter finished batches manually:

1. Select Add Batch.
2. Under Batch Number, enter or search for a batch or serial number.
3. Under Quantity, enter the quantity for that batch.
4. Under Expires At, enter an optional expiry date.
5. Repeat Add Batch for each additional batch or serial.

To generate finished batch numbers automatically, select Auto Generate and fill in the generator fields:

• Prefix
• Suffix
• Start (the first sequence number)
• Count (how many batch numbers to create)
• Expires At

Qoblex previews the result next to Examples as you type (for example, the prefix, start, and suffix combined for the first few numbers). Review this preview before you confirm — a wrong prefix, suffix, start, or count creates traceability records that will later appear on sales, transfers, adjustments, and expiry reports.

When you confirm, Qoblex expands the generator into one finished batch per sequence number, each carrying a quantity of 1. So the Count you enter is both the number of batch numbers created and the total finished quantity those batches account for. If the generator produces no batches — and you added no manual finished batches either — the server rejects the request with “Batches to create is either empty or the batch auto generation expression is wrong.”

Auto Generate is only available while no finished batches have been added yet. Add finished batches manually or generate them, not both.

The finished batch or serial detail becomes the stock record used for the produced inventory, so use finished-product batches whenever the output must be traceable after completion. For serial-tracked output, this normally means one row per produced unit with a quantity of 1, unless support has confirmed a different arrangement — and this is exactly what Auto Generate produces, since each generated batch has a quantity of 1.

Assign consumed raw-material batches or serials

Below the finished product, each consumed component appears in its own card under the heading Consumed Raw Materials Batch / Serial numbers, with the instruction to “Specify the batch number, serial number, and expiry date (optional) for the raw materials.” Each card shows the component and the quantity to consume (for example, “x 10 units”).

For each component:

1. Select Add Batch.
2. Under Batch Number, search for and select the batch or serial that was consumed. The search is scoped to the manufacturing order’s location, so only batches available at that location appear.
3. Under Quantity, enter the quantity consumed from that batch. (The expiry date is filled in from the selected batch and is read-only here.)
4. If production drew from more than one batch, select Add Batch again and split the quantity across the batch lines.

Match the assignment to the physical stock actually issued on the production floor. If a component was issued from a different batch than planned, correct the assignment before you complete the order.

For serial-tracked components, select the exact serials consumed. Do not substitute an unrelated available serial just to get past validation — the selected serial becomes part of the production trace and may be needed later for customer support, warranty review, or stock reconciliation.

What Qoblex checks before accepting the dialog

Before it accepts your entries, Qoblex validates each consumed component line in the browser:

• Batch quantity must be greater than zero, or it reports “batch quantity must be greater than zero.”
• A batch must be selected, or it reports “batch ID is missing.”
• The batch quantities on a line must add up to that line’s quantity, or it reports “the sum of batches to receive does not match the total quantity to receive.”

If any of these fail, the errors are listed at the bottom of the dialog and it will not submit. Fix the entries and select Confirm again.

Do not change the manufacturing order quantity just to make the dialog save — only adjust quantities when the actual production quantity really changed.

Server checks when you confirm the dialog

When you select Confirm, the entries are sent to the server (the assign/Confirm step) and re-validated before they are saved. If any of these fail, the assignment is rejected and nothing is saved:

• Each finished batch quantity must be greater than zero, or the request is rejected with “Finished batch quantity must be greater than zero.”
• The finished batches must total the order’s yield quantity, or the request is rejected with “The total quantity of finished batches must be equal to the yield quantity of the assembly order.”
• For each consumed component line, the assigned batch quantities may not exceed the quantity to consume (order quantity plus wastage, minus unconsumed), or the request is rejected with “{component name} Order quantity does not match batch quantities” — the message is prefixed at runtime with the component’s name.
• If you reuse an existing batch number for the finished product but give it a different expiry date, the request is rejected with “Batch {number} already exists with expiration date {date}. Use that batch or create a different batch number.” — reuse the existing batch or pick a different number.

Consumed batch quantities are stored as negative amounts internally, but you always enter and see positive quantities in the dialog.

Server checks when you complete the order

When you later complete the order, Qoblex re-checks the batch totals against the actual consumed and produced quantities and will not complete if they do not reconcile:

• Each consumed component’s batch total must equal the quantity consumed, or completion fails with “{component name} The total quantity of batch operations does not match the quantity consumed” — the quoted message is prefixed at runtime with the component’s name.
• The finished-product batch total must equal the quantity produced, or completion fails with “{finished product} The total quantity of batch operations does not match the quantity produced” — this message is prefixed at runtime with the finished bill-of-material identifier.

On completion Qoblex records the batch usages against the finished product and each consumed line, so the produced batches carry their costed value and the consumed batches are drawn down from stock.

Changing batches on a completed order

Once an order is Completed, the batch fields are locked: batch numbers and quantities can no longer be edited, the Add Batch buttons are hidden, and the Confirm button is no longer shown.

Batches cannot be removed or reassigned on a completed manufacturing order. To correct wrong batch information after completion, run an inventory adjustment instead.

Before creating a correction, capture the manufacturing order number, product SKU, component SKU, batch or serial number, expiry date, and completed quantity so the correction stays tied to the original production event:

• If the correction affects finished goods, adjust the finished-product batch or serial stock at the production location.
• If the correction affects consumed materials, adjust the component batch or serial stock and document why the production record and physical usage differed.

Disassembly limitation

Batch tracking is not supported for disassembly orders. The Receive Batch dialog and the batch-assignment API apply to assembly orders only.

Attempting to assign batches to a disassembly order is not supported. If a disassembly scenario needs traceability, confirm the intended process with support before creating the order.