Manage Lot Numbers for Independent Kits

Overview

A kit is typically comprised of multiple individual items that may have different lot numbers and expiration dates and it is critical to ensure that the kit is not sold or used after the earliest expiration date for any of its component items. By tracking the lot number and expiration date at the component level, you reduce the risk of expired or soon-to-expire items being shipped out to customers.

Prerequisites

Contact Sellercloud Support to enable AutoUpdateExpirableStatusOnKitParentsBasedOnComponents on your server:

1. This setting will not allow manual editing of the Expirable setting of independent kit parents and will make it dependent on the Expirable setting of the components.
2. Any time IsExpirable is updated on any components, it will automatically update the kit parent.
   • When initially starting to use this workflow, this setting should be enabled before any of the components are marked as Expirable so the parent status will be updated accordingly.
   • For any parent that already has assembled quantity, use the plugin to import the lot and expiration information. Learn more here.

Manage Lot Numbers for Independent Kits

There are several additional steps to keep in mind when using lot numbers with independent kits.

Kit parent lot numbers

When assembling an independent kit parent, a new lot number will be generated and assigned to the kit parent. Any movement on the kit parent (adjustments, picking, transferring, etc) will then need to use the newly generated lot numbers.

• Skustack will use the earliest expiration date/lot number combination from what was picked for the expirable components, but will add a suffix (-L1, -L2, etc) to the lot number.
• Before generating a new lot number for the parent, Skustack will check if there is already a parent lot number for the same expirable component definition and if yes, will re-use that one.

Pick the components

When picking the components for the assembly, you will be prompted to select the lot numbers for each component.

• All units of each component must have the same lot number. If you are assembling 100 parents together and the expirable component has a quantity of 2 in the kit, all 200 units picked must have the same lot number. Those 200 units can be picked from different bins though. (If there are multiple expirable components in the kit, each component can have a different lot number.)

Assemble the kit

The kit cannot be automatically assembled after it is picked without your input because there may be other kits in the process of being assembled which could cause the same component to have additional lot numbers in the assembly bin and the you will not necessarily pick the correct units to assemble.

• Therefore, when actually assembling the kit after all the units are picked, Skustack will show a dialog with each expirable component, the total quantity needed (to assemble all the kit parents in the prep session), and a dropdown of the lot numbers available in the assembly bin for that component. The dropdown will default to the lot number that was picked for that specific prep session
• After the kit is assembled, a lot number label will be printed automatically with the new parent lot number and the expiration date

Disassemble the kit

You will need to select from the list of existing lot numbers on the parent:

• If that particular lot number had been assembled through Skustack, then Skustack will automatically know the components’ expirable definition and which lot numbers to add back to which components.
• If that lot number had not been assembled through Skustack (ex positive adjustment), then the user will be prompted to select a lot number for each expirable component (and will be able to create a new lot number for the component if it does not yet exist).
• If disassembling the kit using the assembled serial number, Skustack will automatically know which parent lot number to use and which lot numbers should be added back to each component.

Negative adjustment

Negative adjustments adjust the kit parent and do not affect the components at all so that it will work like a regular negative adjustment on a regular expirable product – you will need to select from the existing lot numbers on the product to adjust down.

Positive adjustment or cycle count

The independent kit parent will be treated like a regular expirable product – you will need to select a lot (or create a new one). If the lot selected already has an existing kit definition, great. Otherwise, if you ever disassemble it you will need to select the component lot numbers at that time.

Kit lot expiry module

The Kit Lot Expirys module allows users to view kit parent lot numbers and expiration dates, find the expirable component definition, and reprint lot number labels for the kit parents.

Navigate to the Product tab and then to the Kit Lot Expirys module.
There are two search modes:

1. Kit Parent SKU
   1. Searching by kit parent SKU will open a list of all lot numbers on that kit parent along with the quantity in bins.
   2. Side-swipe a lot number for more options:
      1. Labels – reprint the lot number label for the kit parent
      2. Details – view the expirable component definition associated with this kit parent lot number
2. Kit Parent Lot Number
   1. Searching by kit parent lot number will open a list of all kit parents with that lot number, showing the quantity in bins for each one.
   2. There are additional options in the menu at the top of the activity:
      1. Tap the suitcase icon to view the expirable component definition associated with the kit’s parent lot number.
      2. Tap the printer icon to reprint lot number labels.

Initial import of lot expiries for independent kit parents

When the kit parent already has assembled units, and now it gets marked as IsExpirable:

• This should really only happen when you start using this workflow and you go through and mark items as IsExpirable. In this case, after the parent gets changed to IsExpirable, you can use a plugin to import the lot numbers for the quantity already in bins on the parent. Learn more about that here. If you ever disassemble any of those units, it will work the same way as a regular disassembly works if we don’t know the component lot numbers (you will have to select a lot number for each component).