---
id: KB-IU-025
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/manufacturing/receiving-material-you-cannot-tell-apart
idioma: en
categoria: sector-industria
subcategoria: vidrio
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-IU-024, KB-IU-018]
citadoPor: [KB-IU-028]
---

# 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._

**Responde a:** identifying identical material consignments · unmarked material traceability in the warehouse · mixing consignments in storage problem · knowing which consignment my stock came from

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.

> [!WARNING]
> 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.

> [!NOTE]
> 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.

## Ejemplos

**Two identical consignments are stacked together and become indistinguishable.**

- Records which consignment goes in each location

→ Identity is preserved by the location.

**Nobody knows which consignment yesterday's material came from.**

- Records where material is taken from when used

→ The warehouse is tied to production.

**An old remainder turns up that nobody can date.**

- Flags what has sat too long without movement

→ It is identified before someone uses it in a hurry.

**Each delivery's documentation is filed by supplier.**

- Stores documents against the consignment received

→ The paperwork still points at something specific.

**The supplier asks about a consignment delivered months ago.**

- Keeps the receipt with its date and location

→ You can say what was done with it.

**Nothing is recorded at unloading because the material carries no mark.**

- Allows recording the receipt from the loading bay itself

→ The data is captured while it is still known.