Katana allows you to choose specific batches of ingredients (materials or subassemblies) for manufacturing orders (MOs), ensuring full traceability and accurate inventory tracking. This is especially useful for quality control, compliance, and recall management.
When and why do you need to select batches
If batch tracking is enabled for any ingredient in an MO, select the batch each ingredient is taken from. You can do this while planning, when completing, or after the MO is done.
This ensures:
Full visibility into the exact source of your raw materials
Traceability from purchase → production → sale
Compliance with expiry or quality standards
Where batches can be selected
You can assign batches:
In the main Katana interface, directly on the MO
Through the Shop Floor App, when an operator completes an operation and consumes the ingredients
Only batches available at the manufacturing location can be used.
Note: Batches that have expired for over 1 month cannot be added.
How to assign batches to ingredients
Open the MO. A traceability indicator appears next to the quantity of each batch-tracked ingredient.
Click the indicator, or the arrow to the left of the ingredient name, to open the traceability row.
Select the batch (and bin, if you track bins). You'll see each batch's total and available quantity, so you can tell if part of it is already reserved for another order.
If one batch doesn't cover the quantity, add another row for the rest.
To fill several ingredients at once, select them and click Auto-assign traceability. Katana picks batches in order of earliest expiry. You can change the selection at any time. Quantities are taken from the selected batches when the MO is set to Partially complete or Done.
Key details to remember
It's recommended to assign batches to all ingredients before completing an MO.
You can also select from "Unbatched" quantities if available.
If an expiration date exists for a batch, it will be displayed automatically.
You can edit batches for ingredients on MOs that are already marked as Done.
Limitation: Serial numbers for materials (ingredients) aren't covered.
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