I have a prospect in the supplement manufacturing industry. One issue that I am trying to solve for them is managing lots of ingredients or finished goods that require testing before they can be used.
For ingredients the scenario is this: A product is purchased and receipted into stock and assigned a lot number. A sample is taken and sent to an independent laboratory for testing - the test can take up to 2 weeks to return during which time the stock cannot be used in production and is not available for scheduling.
We are looking for an easy way to identify that this particular lot is still awaiting the test result whilst other lots of the same item may be available (or waiting on a test and not available until later). Ideally I would like to have attributes for the lot, but this is not available. I think that the best I can do right now is place the lot in a quarantine location and move it out when it has passed the test.
A similar situation occurs during manufacturing when the finished product has been blended but not yet filled into capsules - the blend requires testing before filling can take place.
Has anybody else faced this situation and come up with a better solution?
Thanks in advance... John
