Receiving Inventory

Receiving inventory is the process of bringing materials into the factory and recording inventory transactions in the application. Stocks of inventory become available within the facility only after the inventory is received and assigned to a storage location.

Inventory can be received in these ways:

  • Receiving unknown inventory during consumption transaction. For these inventories materials and quantities must be specified when the receipt is processed. See Unknown Consumptions.
  • Receiving unknown inventory at goods receipt.
  • Receiving known inventory through an inbound delivery.

The key concepts to be used while receiving inventory includes:

  • Purchase Order: A contractual agreement with a supplier that defines the quantity of materials to be purchased, the agreed price, and the agreed timeframe.
  • Purchase Order Item: An individual material and quantity listed on a purchase order. A purchase order can contain one or more purchase order items.
  • Inbound Delivery: An organized delivery to ship materials required to complete purchase order(s). The required quantity for a purchase order can be fulfilled through multiple inbound deliveries over time.
  • Inbound Delivery Item: An individual material included in an inbound delivery. An inbound delivery can contain one or more inbound delivery items. Each delivery item is associated with a corresponding purchase order line.
  • Inbound Pack: An individual inventory pack included in an inbound delivery. For example, a pallet identified by a unique number that contains a specific quantity of material and associated pre-defined information, such as batch lot or supplier details.
  • Inbound Pack:The received inventory is moved to a storage location and is in stock from this point.

The inbound process manages the receipt of materials from suppliers and the registration in the application, enabling the inventory to be available for use within the facility. The process typically includes these activities:

  • Creating an inbound order that defines the material and quantity requested from the supplier.
  • Creating deliveries to fulfill the requested order quantity. Each delivery item is linked to the corresponding inbound order item.
  • Registering inventory packs during delivery creation even before the materials physically arrive at the facility. This supports integrations that provide advance shipment information.
  • Printing the inventory pack labels for the packs included in the delivery. These labels can be used if labels provided by the supplier are not being used.
  • Receiving the delivery by scanning the appropriate inventory pack labels. This include the supplier labels, newly printed labels, and both.
  • Recording the inventory received in the application, after which the inventory is available to be used within the facility.