System for warehousing and supply chain

Batch-level warehouse control with QR codes

Nine modules: receiving, identification and labelling, location control, batch and expiry control, picking and despatch, cycle counting, traceability and recall, audit records, reporting and integration. You take the modules you need and configure them to the way your own site works.

The international name: a warehouse management system (WMS) with batch control and FEFO — first expired, first out.

A three-level pallet rack holding cartons, one carton with a QR label being read by a handheld scanner, a thermal label printer beside it feeding out a strip of labels

Why this moment is different from before

Coding goods in a warehouse is not new, but until now it was an internal choice. Decree 37/2026/ND-CP turns traceability into a requirement with a timetable: an organisation’s internal traceability system has to be able to connect and share data with the regulator’s, fully applicable from the start of 2027.

Traceability data is only correct when it is produced as the work happens. A warehouse still working from notebooks will be rebuilding the record for each batch every time it is asked for — and that is a job that is never finished in time.

Close view of a carton on a pallet, a label with a QR code and a few lines of text on its face, an industrial handheld scanner aiming its beam at the code

Scope

Nine modules

Each module stands on its own. Most sites start with identification and batch stock control, because everything else rests on those.

01 Receiving and inspection

receiving & inspection

Goods checked against the order while they are being received, so shortages and overages surface on the spot
Awaiting quality inspection sits on the batch itself, and a batch that has not been released cannot ship
Storage conditions recorded at receipt for goods with temperature requirements

02 Identification and label printing

labelling · GS1

Codes built on the GS1 structure: product code, batch number, expiry date, shipping container code
Labels printed at the receiving point, in QR or linear barcode
Print quality graded so labels do not fail to scan later
Where a supplier already applies a compliant code, it is read and reused rather than overprinted

03 Put-away and location control

put-away & slotting

A map of the warehouse down to the individual rack slot, each location with its own code
Put-away suggested by rules you set: pick frequency, load rating, temperature zone, goods that must not be stored together
The nesting of case, pallet and location kept current with every movement

04 Batch and expiry control

lot & expiry control

Stock visible by batch, by expiry date, by quality status and by location
Alerts before a batch reaches its date, at as many thresholds as you want
Batches blocked when quality is in doubt, with quarantined and returned goods kept separate

05 Picking and despatch

picking & shipping

Batch selected first-expired-first-out or first-in-first-out, configured per product group
Every case scanned to confirm, with an immediate error if the wrong batch or wrong item is picked
Loads assigned to a delivery run from a phone, and closed off when complete
The receiving party scans to confirm, and any discrepancy shows down to the individual case

06 Cycle counting

cycle counting

Counted area by area while the warehouse keeps working, with no need to stop movements
Count frequency scheduled by value classification
Discrepancies recorded and approved at the right level of authority

07 Traceability and recall

traceability & recall

Forward and backward tracing on the one step back — one step forward principle
From a single case code to the batch, supplier, receipt date, inspection result, and who received it and when
Recall rehearsals and mass balance for a batch, exported as a record

08 Electronic records and audit trail

audit trail · data integrity

Who did what and when, recorded automatically, with no way for a user to switch it off
Records cannot be edited once created; every change adds a new record with its reason
Role-based permissions and electronic signatures where approval is required
Built for the periodic audit trail review your quality function has to carry out

09 Reporting and integration

reporting & integration

Two-way exchange with your ERP through a web service interface
Data exported in the structure a regulator or a customer asks for
Scanning keeps working when the connection drops, and syncs once the network is back

The management case

What this system is for, beyond the audit

Satisfying an assessor is the necessary part. What actually gets the investment approved is usually one of the seven points below.

Working capital sitting in stockWhen the stock figure cannot be trusted, the only defence is to hold high safety stock — which means holding cash in the warehouse. Carrying cost is conventionally put at about a quarter of stock value a year. Stock accurate down to the location is what allows safety stock to come down without raising the risk of running out.

Expired and degraded goods written offThis is usually booked in aggregate at period end, so nobody can trace the cause. Once stock is tied to expiry dates and locations, you can see which product group and which supplier the write-offs come from, and whether the cause was over-ordering or picking in the wrong order.

Narrowing the scope of a recallAn organisation that can trace to the batch recalls that batch. An organisation that cannot has to recall a far wider scope to be safe. The difference between those two is the largest single thing a traceability system is worth — and it only shows up at the moment you have no time to improvise.

Keeping major customers and export marketsModern retail chains and export customers all require certification, with periodic traceability exercises. Failing an audit is not a lost point, it is a lost order. This is usually the first reason quoted when a board approves the spend.

Productivity and training timeWhen the system says where to go, which batch and how many, a new starter is useful immediately instead of spending weeks learning the warehouse. In a sector where hiring is hard and turnover is high, that is worth more, more often, than the saved keystrokes.

Using the space you already haveManaging down to the rack slot shows what is genuinely empty and what is being held by slow-moving stock. Often the answer to running out of space is not renting more of it.

Less dependence on the people who knowWhere things are and what ships first live in the system rather than in the memory of a long-serving storekeeper. Turnover stops being a risk, and a handover takes days.

A trace diagram for one case: the case in the centre carrying a QR code, lines running back to its pallet, the delivery vehicle and the supplier’s carton, and forward to the retail shelf, the delivery van and the box that reached the customer

Reference figures from international markets

≈25% a yearCost of carrying stock as a share of its value, on standard warehousing practice

≈USD 10 mAverage direct cost of a single recall in the food sector, per a US food manufacturers association survey

+70%How much more a recall costs where traceability is weak, compared with organisations that can trace to the batch

Vietnamese operations are a different size, so the absolute numbers do not transfer. What does transfer is the structure: most of the damage in a recall is not the cost of the recall itself, it is the interruption to the business and the scope being wider than it needed to be. We quote them so you have a reference point when estimating for your own site, not as a saving we are promising.

What becomes measurable

How much improves depends on where each warehouse is starting from. What the system guarantees is that the figures below become daily measurements instead of impressions.

Stock accuracyHow closely what is scanned matches what the system says, measured area by area rather than as one number for the whole site.

Time to complete a traceFrom the request to a list of everyone who received a batch — the figure certification schemes ask about directly.

Share written off at expiryMeasurable by product group and by supplier once stock carries its expiry date.

Picking error rateWrong batch, wrong item, wrong quantity — kept separate, because each is fixed differently.

Time to complete a stock countAnd the hours the warehouse has to stop for it, which usually falls to none.

Manual data entry still remainingHow many fields are still typed by hand — the most direct measure of how far the digitisation has actually gone.

What an assessor asks for

The standards below come down to the same group of requirements: records that are complete, tied to a person and a time, impossible to alter after the fact, and producible within a set time.

Standard or regulation	Relevant requirement	What the system supplies
GSP — good storage practice for medicines	Complete and accurate records, every storage activity traceable; receipt and issue by batch number and expiry date	Stock managed to batch and expiry, an electronic record per operation, and records exported for the audit
Data integrity — ALCOA+, EU GMP Annex 11, 21 CFR Part 11	An automatic, time-stamped audit trail that users can neither disable nor alter, and that is reviewed periodically	An activity log built to exactly that principle, role-based permissions, electronic signatures, and a screen made for the quality function’s review
TCVN 12850:2019 and the GS1 system	Product identification, batch or serial number; one step back — one step forward; key data elements available	Codes structured to GS1, traceability data stored as events, forward and backward tracing in minutes
Decree 37/2026/ND-CP on traceability	An internal traceability system must connect and share data with the regulator’s system through a programming interface, fully applicable from 1 January 2027	Traceability data normalised during ordinary operation and exportable in the required structure, so no separate file has to be assembled when the deadline arrives
ISO 22000, BRCGS and food safety schemes	A traceability exercise and mass balance completed within a set time, commonly 4 hours	Trace rehearsals and mass balance for a batch run against live operating data and exported as a record for the assessor
ISO 9001 — quality management	Clause 8.5.2 identification and traceability; control of records	Every case carries its own identity linked to its whole handling history, with records retained for the period you set

Configured per warehouse

No two warehouses run the same way. The points below are parameters, settled during the survey rather than fixed in the software.

Product groups and issue rulesFirst-expired-first-out, first-in-first-out, or by explicit allocation — set per product group.

Depth of identificationTo the batch, to the case, or to the individual unit. Deeper traces better and costs more scanning.

Quality inspection pointsAt receipt, periodically in storage, or before despatch — and who has authority to release.

Storage conditionsAmbient, chilled, frozen and controlled-substance areas each record different things.

Extent of integrationStandalone, connected to your management system, or connected further to customer and regulator systems.

Validation requirementsWarehouses under sector regulation need their own validation file, established at survey stage.

Equipment and infrastructure to prepare

Four pieces of warehouse equipment in two rows: an industrial handheld scanner with a grip, a desktop thermal label printer feeding a strip of white labels, a phone in a rugged case with a scanning head, and a ceiling-mounted access point with two arcs of coverage

Item	What to watch when rolling out
Handheld scanners or phones	Purpose-built devices for high-intensity picking areas; Android phones are fine for counting and assigning delivery runs.
Label printer	Put it at the receiving point so labels are printed and applied there. Printing centrally and carrying labels out is a common source of error.
Label stock suited to the environment	Cold stores, humid stores and carton surfaces all need different adhesives and materials. A label that falls off breaks the whole data chain.
Wireless coverage down every aisle	Dead spots between tall racks are the usual reason staff stop scanning. Survey the coverage before rolling out.
Server on site	Data stays inside the business, and the system keeps running when the external connection drops.

Where codes printed on packaging are already blurred, scratched or distorted, see the tool for reading codes on poor surfaces — you can try it on a photograph of a real label from your own warehouse.

Where the system stops

Certification against the standards above is granted to an organisation after an assessment body has reviewed the whole management system. It is never granted to software. The software supplies the evidence and records an assessor asks for; the process, the people and the condition of the building remain yours.
Warehouse software does not replace accounting software. It manages the physical state of the goods and returns the figures to your management system.
The system is only as accurate as the labelling done at receipt. That is a change in working habits, and it needs training and supervision through the first period.
Torn, dirty or overlabelled codes will not read. Every design includes a manual path that records who used it and why.
Wrong data arriving from your management system is recorded faithfully as it arrives. The system detects differences between the books and the floor; it cannot detect an order that was wrong at source.

Questions we are asked

What is this kind of system called internationally?

A warehouse management system, or WMS. The large platforms all sell it as modules: receiving, put-away, stock control, picking, cycle counting, traceability and reporting. What separates the products is the depth of each module and how much of it can be configured, not the list of features.

Our warehouse works its own way and packaged software does not fit. What then?

That is why the system is built as configurable modules rather than one fixed sequence of operations. Issue rules, depth of identification, inspection points, approval levels and put-away rules are all parameters. Anything beyond what configuration covers is developed, and that is established during the survey.

What does this give us for a GSP or food safety audit?

An assessor concentrates on evidence: whether records are complete, whether they can be altered after the fact, whether they are tied to a person and a time, and how quickly they can be produced. The system provides an automatic activity log that cannot be switched off, records per batch, and the ability to complete a trace with its mass balance during the audit itself.

How does Decree 37/2026/ND-CP affect our warehouse?

It requires an organisation’s internal traceability system to be able to connect and share data with the regulator’s system, fully applicable from the start of 2027. In practice that means traceability data has to be produced during daily operation. A warehouse still working from notebooks will be assembling records batch by batch when the deadline comes.

What is the difference between issuing by expiry and by receipt order?

First-in-first-out ships what arrived first. First-expired-first-out ships what expires first — and the two differ whenever batches arrive out of expiry order. For pharmaceuticals, food and chemicals, first-expired-first-out is the correct rule.

Where is the warehouse data held?

On a server at your own site. We keep no copy of your operating data, and the system does not need an internet connection to run.

Related: RFID vehicle gate and weighbridge management — the modules that come before this, handling goods while they are still on the vehicle. How we work and the budget bands are on software built to requirement.

What we do

Talk to us about your warehouse

Tell us where you are: floor area and number of rack locations, what kind of goods and whether they carry expiry dates, movements per day, what management system you already run, and which standards you have to maintain. An engineer will call you back to work out which module to do first and which budget band it falls into.

A straight answer on feasibility during the call
The budget range that matches your requirement
An engineer who has built this kind of system before