Scan to book in Warehousing

Scan to book is the part of the production process in which one or more items are reported complete by scanning the label of the handling unit that contains the items. Optionally, the scanning action can be configured to report the handling unit complete and send the handling unit to the finished goods warehouse simultaneously.

In practice, a production employee fills a handling unit, for example, a box, with items, and scans the label of the box when the box is full. This process is supported by Factory Track.

Scan to book can also be performed through LN sessions. In Manufacturing, scan to book is performed for handling units related to production orders.

To perform scan to book, handling unit IDs and handling unit labels must be available during the production process. You can generate handling units and print labels for production orders when the status of the production order schedule is set to Released or Active.

The additional purpose of generating handling unit IDs and handling unit labels during production is to reduce mislabeling by attaching handling unit labels during production or receipt rather than at the shipping dock.

The information printed on the handling unit labels must contain specifications from the originating sales contract and sales order or sales schedule and, if set up accordingly, reference fields from the originating sales schedules. The purpose is twofold:

  • To ensure that the goods are allocated to the customer, which, depending on the setup, prevents the goods from being shipped to other customers in case of inventory shortages or other unforeseen circumstances. See Demand pegged supply orders and Setting up demand pegging for further information.
  • To enable the customer to efficiently handle the goods when the goods arrive at the customer’s site.