Print a batch label on the production order, scan it on Picking List Registration

The client says: "When production makes a batch, we want a label on it. When the storeman picks, he should scan the label and the right batch should be on the picking list." Both halves are configuration on Barcode Assignment. Nothing is programmed.

Outcome

A Print link on every batch number, and one scan to pick a batch

Screens to fill

Barcode Assignment

Screens used

Production order (PCPO), Picking List Registration (ICPL)

Needs first

The delivered DEFAULT nomenclature, active

The production order screen is labelled Manufacturing Order in the system. Its process code is PCPO.

The label, before anything else

A batch label is 06 followed by the batch number. Batch B2401 is printed as the code 06B2401, with B2401 as the readable text underneath.

The 06 is what makes it readable later. The delivered DEFAULT nomenclature has a rule that says a code starting with 06 is a lot, and what follows is the lot number. See the batch label worked through.

Why there is no Print on the header

Generate barcode on a document builds a code from the document's header fields. A batch number is not a header field of the production order. It sits on the lines of the batch grid, and one order can have several. So the label is offered where the batch is: on the cell.

Configure it

Open Barcode Assignment for the company. Create the document if the company has none.

Half one: the Print link on the production order

1. Add a process line. Screen PCPO. Purpose: print batch labels.
2. Tick Generate Enabled and Active. Leave Symbology empty for code128.
3. Click Actions on that line and add one action line with these values.

Field	Value
Sequence	1
Action	PRINTCELL
Grid	flexproductionorderbombatchbalancing
Column	batchnumber
Target	06
Active	Ticked

Leave Context Activity and Scanned Entity Type empty. They are not used by a PRINTCELL line.

Half two: scanning on Picking List Registration

1. Add a second process line. Screen ICPL. Purpose: scan batches while picking.
2. Tick Scan Enabled and Active. Leave Nomenclature empty so the screen reads with DEFAULT.
3. Add no action lines. Picking List Registration knows what a scanned batch means and handles it itself.
4. Save. Close the two screens if they are open, and open them again.

What the user sees

On the production order

In the batch grid, every line that has a batch number shows Print beside it. Lines without a batch number show nothing. Pressing Print opens the barcode label dialog with the code for that batch. Type how many labels are needed in Labels to print, then press Print. The browser's print window opens with one 70 x 40 mm page per label. The tab then says how many labels were sent and how many have been printed so far for that batch, and the label appears in the Barcode Register with its Print Count.

On Picking List Registration

With a picking list open for entry, the storeman scans a batch label. A handheld scanner needs no click first. The Scan barcode button in the toolbar does the same with the camera, or with the code typed in.

What is scanned	What happens
A batch that is not yet on the list	An open line for that batch's item is filled with the batch and a picked quantity of 1, exactly as if the batch had been chosen from the batch list. The picked date is today
The same batch again	One more is added to that batch's line. The one is taken from the open line of the same item, and when that open line reaches zero it is removed
A different batch of the same item	It gets its own line

Three warnings can appear, and each one means the scan changed nothing:

• "Batch X - the required quantity is already picked" - there is no open quantity left for that item.
• "Batch X - only N in stock" - the batch has no more stock than is already picked from it.
• "Batch X has no stock for any open line of this picking list" - the batch is not stock of any item still open on this list.

A scan is ignored while the picking list is only being viewed.

Prove it worked

1. Open a production order that has batches. Each batch number shows Print. Press one and check the dialog shows the batch number as the readable text. Print two labels and check the tab says 2 labels were sent.
2. Open a picking list that needs the item of that batch, for entry. Press Scan barcode and type 06 followed by the batch number.
3. The batch appears on a line with picked quantity 1.
4. Do it again. The same line now shows 2, and the open line of that item is one lower.
5. Type a batch of an item that is not on the list. You get the no stock for any open line warning and nothing changes.

If it does not work

• "No Print link on the production order" - Generate Enabled is off on the PCPO line, the line is not Active, or Grid and Column on the action line are not typed exactly as above. The screen must also be reopened after the assignment is saved.
• "Nothing happens when a label is scanned" - the company has no active ICPL line with Scan Enabled, or the document belongs to a different legal entity from the one the user is logged in to.
• "The scanner types the code into a cell" - the scanner is slower than the Inter-key setting, or does not send Enter. See Barcode Assignment.
• "The label prints but the scan says no stock" - the batch really has no stock for an item still open on that picking list. Check the list's site and warehouse.