Warehouses & Inventory

Set up multiple warehouses, track stock levels in real time, get low-stock alerts, process goods receipts, issues, transfers, and adjustments, and auto-generate LOT numbers with custom patterns.

Warehouses

The Warehouses screen is where you create and manage all storage locations in your factory. You can add as many warehouses as you need. Each one serves a different role in your production flow.

Here are common warehouse types in manufacturing:

Raw Materials Warehouse – holds incoming materials from suppliers before production uses them.
Work-in-Progress (WIP) Warehouse – tracks materials that are on the production floor but not yet finished.
Finished Goods Warehouse – stores completed products ready to ship.
Quarantine Warehouse – holds items that failed quality checks or need inspection. They cannot be used or shipped until released.

Each warehouse has a Name, Type, Physical Location (building, floor, zone), and an optional Description. Warehouses connect to the Factory Structure (Site > Area > Factory), so you can view stock at any level.

Use Case 1 – Multi-Site Manufacturer: A company with two factories creates separate warehouses for each site. Stock transfers between sites are tracked with stock documents, so you always know where materials are.

Use Case 2 – Quarantine Workflow: A batch of resin fails inspection. The operator moves it to the Quarantine warehouse with a transfer document. It stays hidden from production until the quality team releases or scraps it.

Stock On Hand

The Stock On Hand screen shows your current inventory across all warehouses in real time. It updates automatically when stock documents are processed, materials are used, or finished goods are made.

The table shows: Material/Product Name, Warehouse, Current Quantity, Unit of Measure, and a Minimum Stock Alert flag. When stock drops below the minimum level, the row turns red and an alert appears on the Dashboard. You can set different minimum levels for each material in each warehouse.

Use filters to narrow results by warehouse, material type, or stock status. You can also search by name or code. Export the filtered view for purchasing or ERP checks.

Use Case 1 – Daily Procurement Review: Each morning, the buyer filters Stock On Hand by "Below Minimum Stock." They see three materials running low, export the list, and order more before production stops.

Use Case 2 – Production Feasibility Check: Before scheduling 5,000 units, the planner checks Stock On Hand. The BOM needs 500 kg of Material A (800 kg available) and 200 liters of Material B (only 150 liters available). They spot the shortage and order more Material B.

Use Case 3 – Month-End Reconciliation: The finance team compares Stock On Hand with the ERP system. Any differences are fixed with Adjustment stock documents, and the full history is saved.

Stock Documents

Stock Documents record every inventory movement in OpenMES. Materials coming in, going out, moving between warehouses, or being corrected – each change creates a document with a full audit trail.

OpenMES supports four primary stock document types:

Document Type	Description	Effect on Stock
Receipt / GRN (Goods Receipt Note)	Logs materials arriving from suppliers or returned goods. Links to supplier, purchase order, and LOT.	Increases stock in the destination warehouse
Issue	Logs materials leaving a warehouse – used in production, scrapped, or shipped.	Decreases stock in the source warehouse
Transfer	Moves materials between warehouses (e.g., Raw Materials to WIP, or WIP to Quarantine).	Decreases source, increases destination
Adjustment	Fixes stock differences found during physical counts. Requires a reason code.	Increases or decreases stock depending on direction

Each document includes a Document Number (auto-generated), Type, Date, Source Warehouse, Destination Warehouse, Line Items (material, quantity, LOT number), Status (draft, confirmed, cancelled), and an ERP Sync indicator.

When ERP sync is on, confirmed documents are sent automatically to your ERP system (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, or custom). This keeps your financial records in sync with the shop floor. If the sync fails, the document is flagged, and the system retries on a set schedule.

Use Case – Automated Material Consumption: When a work order starts, OpenMES auto-creates an Issue document. It deducts BOM materials from the Raw Materials warehouse. When the order finishes, a Receipt document adds finished goods. No manual data entry needed.

LOT Sequences

LOT Sequences auto-generate LOT numbers for incoming materials and finished goods. No more manual entry that leads to mistakes. OpenMES creates LOT numbers using patterns you configure, so each number carries useful information.

Each LOT sequence pattern has three parts:

Prefix – a short label for the material type or product line (e.g., "RM-" for raw materials, "FG-" for finished goods).
Date Component – adds the date in a format you choose (YYYYMMDD, YYMM, etc.). You can tell when a lot was created just by reading the number.
Counter – a sequential number (3, 4, or 5 digits) that resets daily, monthly, or never. For example: RM-20240915-0001, RM-20240915-0002, and so on.

You can create multiple LOT sequences for different purposes. Use "RM-" for raw materials, "FG-" for finished goods, and "PB-" for production batches. Each sequence keeps its own counter.

Use Case – Multi-Format Compliance: An auto parts maker ships to customers with different LOT format rules. Customer A wants "YYYYMMDD-NNNN", Customer B wants "LOT-YYMM-NNNNN". They set up two LOT sequences and assign each one to the right products. Done – no manual formatting.

Use Case – Traceability-Ready Numbering: A food maker uses "PROD-YYMMDD-NNN" for finished goods. During a recall, the date in the LOT number instantly shows which batches were made that day. Full traceability details are always in the Traceability module too.

Integration Note: LOT sequences sync with your ERP system. When OpenMES creates a LOT number, it sends it to the ERP with the stock document. You can also receive LOT numbers from the ERP. OpenMES sequences work as a fallback for materials without ERP-generated lots.

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