Manufacturing & Traceability Guide

Manage serial number series, generate traceable identifiers, and track manufacturing data with full audit capabilities.

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Understanding Serial Number Series
3. Creating a Series
4. Format String Tokens
5. Base Types & Encoding
6. Reset Rules
7. Generating Serial Numbers
8. Records & Tracking
9. Script Engine Integration
10. Best Practices

1. Overview

The Traceability Management system provides enterprise-grade serial number generation and tracking for manufacturing environments. It supports:

• Configurable Formats — Build serial numbers with date tokens, sequences, and custom prefixes
• Multiple Base Types — Numeric, alphanumeric, hexadecimal, or alpha-only encoding
• Automatic Reset — Reset sequences daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or per shift
• Global Uniqueness — Enforce company-wide uniqueness across all series
• Full Audit Trail — Track when, where, and why each serial was generated
• High Capacity — Support billions of unique identifiers per series

Use Cases: Product serial numbers, batch/lot identifiers, work order numbers, document numbers, asset tags, shipping labels.

2. Understanding Serial Number Series

A Series defines how serial numbers are formatted and generated.

3. Creating a Series

Step 1: Open Traceability Management

Navigate to Manufacturing → Traceability.

Step 2: Click "Add Series"

Step 3: Configure the Series

Basic Settings:

Sequence Settings:

Advanced Settings:

Step 4: Preview and Create

The live preview shows what generated serials will look like. Click Create Series when ready.

4. Format String Tokens

Build your serial number format using these tokens:

Date & Time Tokens

Sequence Tokens

Context Tokens

Format String Examples

5. Base Types & Encoding

Choose how the sequence portion is encoded:

Numeric (Default)

Alphanumeric (Base36)

Hexadecimal (Base16)

Alpha Only (Base26)

Capacity Comparison

6. Reset Rules

Control when the sequence counter resets to the starting value.

Example with Daily Reset:

• Day 1: 0001, 0002, 0003
• Day 2: 0001, 0002, 0003

7. Generating Serial Numbers

From the UI

1. Open a series in Traceability Management
2. Click Generate
3. Optionally enter work order and quantity
4. Click Generate Serials

From Scripts

Use the serial object in the Script Engine:

function main(context) {
  // Generate single serial
  const sn = serial.next("ProductSerials", {
    plant: "DET",
    line: "L1"
  });
  
  // Batch generate
  const serials = serial.batch("PartSerial", 5, {
    line: "L1"
  });
  
  // Preview without consuming
  const preview = serial.preview("ProductSerials");
  
  // Get series info
  const info = serial.info("ProductSerials");
  
  return {
    success: true,
    data: { serial: sn, batch: serials }
  };
}

From Document Templates

Serial numbers can be generated during document generation by calling serial functions in the script that triggers generation.

8. Records & Tracking

Every generated serial number is recorded with full context for traceability.

Record Fields

Searching Records

Search for serial numbers by:

• Serial number (exact or partial match)
• Series name
• Work order
• Date range

Record Metadata

View metadata about generated serials including generation statistics and series utilization.

9. Script Engine Integration

The Script Engine provides full access to the traceability system.

Available Methods

Label Printing with Serials

function main(context) {
  // Generate serial
  const sn = serial.next("PartSerials");
  
  // Create ZPL label with serial
  const zplCode = zpl.fromTemplate("SerialLabel", {
    serialNumber: sn,
    partNumber: context.partNumber,
    barcode: sn
  });
  
  // Print the label
  manufacturing.printLabel(context.printer, zplCode);
  
  return { success: true, data: { serial: sn } };
}

Serial + Document Generation

function main(context) {
  // Get product info from UDT
  const product = tables.get("products", context.productId);
  
  // Get the correct serial series for this product
  const seriesName = product.value.serialSeries || "DefaultSerials";
  
  // Generate serial
  const sn = serial.next(seriesName, {
    partNumber: product.value.partNumber,
    workOrder: context.workOrder
  });
  
  // Generate certificate document
  documents.generate("Product Certificate", {
    serialNumber: sn,
    product: product.value,
    manufactureDate: new Date().toISOString(),
    workOrder: context.workOrder
  });
  
  return { success: true };
}

10. Best Practices

Format Design

• Include date tokens — Makes serials self-documenting
• Use Julian day for compactness — {JJJ} instead of {MM}{DD}
• Match industry standards — Some industries have specific requirements
• Plan for capacity — Consider future growth when setting min length

Series Organization

• One series per use case — Don't mix product serials with document numbers
• Descriptive names — "Product Serial - Widget A" not "Series 1"
• Document purpose — Record what each series is for

Global vs. Local Uniqueness

Reset Rule Selection

Capacity Planning

• Calculate annual volume — How many serials per year?
• Add safety margin — Plan for 3-5x expected volume
• Consider format lifespan — Will this format last 10+ years?
• Test with high volumes — Verify performance at scale