Manufacturing
Receiving material you cannot tell apart
Two consignments of the same material look and feel identical. Once they meet in the warehouse, there is no separating them again.
You receive material with nothing written on it: sheets, sections, pellets, boards. Two deliveries of the same product, weeks apart and perhaps from different plants, **are physically indistinguishable the moment they are stacked together**. Each one's documentation arrived separately and is correct; the problem is that from the moment the material merges, that documentation can no longer be assigned to anything specific.
Where the identity is lost
| Moment | Is the consignment known? | What preserves it |
|---|---|---|
| On the lorry | Yes | The delivery note |
| At unloading | Yes, if someone looks | Recording it when it is put away |
| Stacked with the previous lot | **No** | **Separating or marking it** |
| **Consumed in production** | **No, and it does not come back** | **What was recorded at consumption** |
Important
**With indistinguishable material, traceability does not come from the material: it comes from the location.** That is the shift in thinking that is hard and that solves the problem. It is not about marking every sheet, but about knowing what is in each place and not mixing two consignments in one place without recording it. It is warehouse discipline, not a labelling system — which is why it works even when the material takes no marking at all.
What sustains this in a real warehouse
- 1
Locate by consignment at unloading
Even if it is one bay and a label on the racking, not on the material.
- 2
Record when two consignments share a place
It will happen. What cannot happen is it happening unrecorded.
- 3
Record where it was taken from at consumption
That is the fact tying the warehouse to production.
- 4
And review whatever has sat a long time
Old material is always the worst identified.
Watch out
The situation to avoid above all is **the remainder of an old consignment that nobody can date**. It turns up at the back, it looks like what is in front, and the reasonable thing at that moment —using it, it is perfectly fine— is also what breaks the trace of everything made from it. It does not need throwing away: it needs identifying before somebody decides to use it in a hurry on a Friday afternoon.
Worth knowing
What identification and traceability your material or certification scheme requires, and what must be kept per consignment **depends on the product and the customer, and is settled by your adviser or certification body**. Here we cover the organisational part: how to preserve the identity of consignments the material itself does not distinguish.
›Must I physically mark the material?
It is not always possible. Controlling the location always is.
›What if two consignments end up together?
It happens. What matters is that it is recorded that they are together.
›What about old unidentified remainders?
Identify them before someone uses them, not afterwards.
A real case
The situation
Two identical consignments are stacked together and become indistinguishable.
What you do
- Records which consignment goes in each location
What you get
Identity is preserved by the location.
The situation
Nobody knows which consignment yesterday's material came from.
What you do
- Records where material is taken from when used
What you get
The warehouse is tied to production.
The situation
An old remainder turns up that nobody can date.
What you do
- Flags what has sat too long without movement
What you get
It is identified before someone uses it in a hurry.
The situation
Each delivery's documentation is filed by supplier.
What you do
- Stores documents against the consignment received
What you get
The paperwork still points at something specific.
The situation
The supplier asks about a consignment delivered months ago.
What you do
- Keeps the receipt with its date and location
What you get
You can say what was done with it.
The situation
Nothing is recorded at unloading because the material carries no mark.
What you do
- Allows recording the receipt from the loading bay itself
What you get
The data is captured while it is still known.
This article answers
- identifying identical material consignments
- unmarked material traceability in the warehouse
- mixing consignments in storage problem
- knowing which consignment my stock came from