Stock runs on registers. Material arrives, someone writes the quantity in a book, and the batch number goes into a remarks column if there is room. The count may even be right. But when a customer calls about a bad lot, nobody can say quickly which batch went where.
The recall question nobody answers with a bigger register
The usual response is a full stock-take and a tighter register. That stops the godown for a day and still misses what matters:
- The batch stops at inward. It is written at receipt but never reaches the invoice, so the customer's number and yours do not match.
- Unchecked stock sits beside saleable stock. Material waiting for quality clearance gets picked by mistake.
- Transfers are updated in the evening. The balance on screen is yesterday's.
- The stock map lives in one head. When the storekeeper leaves, the knowledge of which rack holds which lot leaves too.
The gap is not the count. It is that the batch is written down once and then left behind as the material moves.
What changes when the batch travels with the stock
The batch starts at the GRN
Material is received against the purchase order, the goods receipt note is posted, and the batch is recorded at that moment. From then on, the batch is part of the stock record, not a note beside it.
Nothing is sold before QC clears it
The lot sits in QC stock — visible, but not saleable — until an inspection clears it. Rejected stock is kept apart from usable stock. On the production side, a manufacturing order will not complete until its quality checks pass, so a failed batch cannot leave as finished goods.
Every lot has a place
Cleared stock is put away to a named bin inside a godown, and the batch goes with it. Transfers between godowns and issues to production are recorded as movements, so stock history shows the full path of an item, with a name against each step.
The batch reaches the customer's paperwork
The batch is carried into the sales order, the proforma invoice, the tax invoice and the delivery challan. If someone edits a document, the change is proposed to the documents that follow it, and a reviewer approves or rejects it. Nothing shifts quietly behind a signed invoice.
What this looks like in practice
Consider a chemical distributor with two godowns and around three hundred active items.
A consignment arrives against a purchase order. The storekeeper posts the GRN, and the batch goes into QC stock. The next morning the lab clears it, and the lot is put away to bin A-01-03. A week later, part of it moves to the second godown and part is sold, with the batch printed on both the tax invoice and the delivery challan.
Two months later, the supplier warns about that lot. The answer is one search:
- How much is still in each godown, and in which bin.
- Which customers received it, and on which invoice.
Nothing here makes a bad lot good. What it does is stop the batch trail breaking between the gate and the customer — which is where recalls turn from an hour into a week.
Counting without stopping the floor
A full physical count is disruptive, so most teams avoid it and the books drift. Cycle count lets you verify one rack or one item class at a time and post the difference with a reason. The scan station turns a barcode into a movement for receiving, picking and counting. Reorder levels per item and per warehouse warn you while there is still time to raise a material request, so a line does not stop for a small part.
Where this meets the rest of the business
Stock is the middle of a chain that has to hold together. A purchase order decides what comes in, the stock record decides what can be sold, and the invoice decides what the ledger and the GST return will say. HSN and unit of measure come from the item master onto every invoice line, and vehicle details recorded at dispatch feed the e-way bill raised from Sales.
The value side matters too. A consignment costs more than the vendor bill. Landed cost adds freight, duty and clearing charges to the item cost, so the margin on each sale is real rather than flattered.
A note on batches and serial numbers
Unnati tracks stock at batch level, which covers most manufacturing, pharma, chemical and distribution work. Serial-number tracking for individually numbered units is on the roadmap. If every piece you sell carries its own number, raise it with us before you sign up.
Unnati's stock module covers items, inward stock, QC and rejected stock, warehouses and bins, cycle counts, reorder levels, landed cost and the scan station. The inventory feature page shows the screens, and the quality control page covers inspections and holds.
Key takeaways
- Batch tracking keeps the lot number attached to stock through every movement.
- In Unnati, the batch is recorded at the GRN and carried to the tax invoice and delivery challan.
- QC stock holds a lot until inspection clears it, so it cannot be sold by mistake.
- Cycle counts, bins and reorder levels keep the count right without a full shutdown.
- Edits to a document are proposed to the documents that follow and need approval.
- Unnati tracks stock at batch level today; serial-number tracking is on the roadmap.