Stock change barcode scanner operation

Overview

The Stock change commands on the scanner change the quantity of stock at a sublocation. The three options, Add, Remove, and Break apart case, are different user interfaces that all create the same type of inventory transaction: stock change. Add and Remove are exactly alike except that the quantities entered represent positive quantities in one case and negative quantities in the other. Break apart case generates a stock change that removes some number of cases from the stock count and adds the corresponding number of individual items.

Stock change operations apply to a single sublocation each, but if you want to do stock changes at multiple sublocations, simply scan a sublocation into the barcode box to finish off the stock change operation that was in progress and start a new one at the new sublocation.

Examples

• Adding or removing items from stock
• Breaking apart a case into its constituents
• Creating a case of a non-standard size

User interface options

The basic user interface for a stock change involves (1) specifying the sublocation, (2) scanning the product, and optionally (3) entering the quantity. At that juncture you can exit the operation from the menu or repeat steps (2) and (3) again to change the quantity of another product. You can also scan a new sublocation to begin a new stock change operation and the new sublocation.

The case/each button indicates whether the scanned barcode represents a case or individual item. This indication applies unless you have the Barcode sets cs/ea setting on the scanner set to yes, in which case the scanned barcode implies the quantity represents a case if the barcode has a suggested case packing. The section on learning barcodes describes the procedure for creating barcodes with the suggested case packing field. The section on settings describes the Barcode sets cs/ea setting.

The optional step (3) of entering the quantity depends on whether you prefer scanning each item you are adding or removing, or scanning the item once and entering a quantity. If you have just one or two items, then scanning each item is probably faster, but if you have a 100 items, or if your quantity represents a weight or length of material, then typing a quantity value or filling in the quantity value using a bluetooth weight scale makes a lot more sense.

If you press the up arrow on the scanner, a quantity box will appear under the barcode box. You can type in an integral or fractional quantity into this box, or you can use the arrows on the scanner to increment or decrement the number, or if you can fill in the number using a bluetooth scale or other measurement device. You can turn the quantity box on permanently for stock change operations by setting the CHG type qty setting to yes in the scanner settings.

Cases

Cases have an extra degree of complexity since a case represents multiple items, and you may need to keep track of that quantity or convert between cases and items. You can also use cases to represent a package of a dimensional quantity like an uncut roll of fabric or an uncut length of pipe. Whatever your cases represent, the inventory system keeps track of your cases separately from your quantity of individual items or dimensional length of cut fabric or pipe.

The product definitions in your inventory include a field called the standard packing quantity, which is for each product the standardor usual number of items that a case of that product contains. If all your cases of that type of product use that standard packing quantity, then when you make a stock change you only have to specify whether you are talking about cases or eaches (individual items), and inventory system automatically knows the packing quantity for the cases. If you have cases with different numbers of items for the same product, then you may need to specify when you add or remove a case, a case of HOW MANY?

You can set the case packing quantity from the Set cs packing qty submenu of the stock change operation. Whatever value you indicate, e.g., 12 or 12/1 or 152.3, will apply to the next items you scan in the stock change operation. You can set the packing quantity back to blank to make not apply any more. The packing quantity set form this menu item does not apply to individual items, only to cases, so you can still use the case/each button to flip back and forth between adding individual items or cases.

Some companies find it convenient to use the same barcode for items and cases, and to indicate at the time recording an inventory operation whether the items being scanned are eaches or cases. The case/each button in the stock change operation and other operations is used for this purpose. Other companies find it more convenient to have separate barcodes for items and cases of the same product. For this method, the company sets the Barcode sets cs/ea setting in the scanner settings to yes, and has entries in the product lookup table for individual items that have a blank suggested case packing field and separate entries in the product lookup table for cases that have a non-blank suggested case packing field. When doing a stock change operation, even if the barcode indicates the quantity is in cases, the quantity from the Set cs packing qty submenu will still override the barcode's suggested case packing field, if present.

In summary, when you add or remove cases in a stock change operation, the packing quantity for the cases is set according to these priorities:

Lot ID

Analogous to the case packing quantities, the applicable lot ID can come from multiple places. Unlike the packing quantity, however, the stock change submenu item Set default lot ID is only a default lot ID that applies if the barcode entry in the product lookup table has a blank Lot ID field. In other words, the lot ID value that you set with the menu has the lowest priority, not the highest priority.

The inventory system stores serial numbers in the lot ID field, so lot IDs and serial numbers are the same with respect to stock change operations.