Receiving and put-away with exception control

Receiving is the first point at which an expected order becomes physical goods that can be inspected. It should therefore not begin by simply increasing book stock. The operator needs three separate descriptions: what the organization ordered on the purchase order, what the supplier announced in the advance shipment notice, and what actually arrived and passed inspection. Agreement between the first two does not prove the third. Fix the unit of measure before comparing quantities. A purchase order might specify ten cases of six pieces each while the dock worker counts pieces. Convert to a common unit and retain the original pack unit in the record, or a conversion error will look like a shortage. Organize receipt through four gates: item and lot identity where relevant, quantity, visible condition, and authorization to release pieces to a saleable or production location. Record the time, purchase order reference, carrier, count and evidence of damage. If the item or lot is wrong, do not place it in the correct item's location merely because the count matches. If only some cases are damaged, separate sound stock from suspect units rather than rejecting the whole load without inspection. Status matters because a system may show received stock that is still unavailable for customer promises until quality review ends. For a quantity difference, define the sign consistently: physical receipts minus the quantity announced in the shipment notice, then compare the result with the open purchase order. These are different baselines. Eight units arriving against ten announced is a two-unit shipment shortage. If the purchase order was for twelve, however, the other four are not necessarily all missing; a partial shipment might have been agreed. Check that condition before making a supplier claim. Put-away needs a named location with adequate capacity and suitable handling, separated from lookalike items. Capture movement from the dock to the location with a scan or identified record. Posting a receipt while the pieces remain on the dock creates stock that pickers cannot reliably find. An exception register should hold event, quantity, status, evidence, owner and next due time rather than an unowned free-text note. Do not invent authority to accept a nonconforming delivery: local policy and contract decide who may waive a requirement, while the specialist records facts and escalates decisions beyond their authority. At put-away close, accepted released units plus quarantined units plus returned units must equal the physical count. This reconciliation exposes pieces with no disposition. Finally check that saleable stock in the pick location reflects only released accepted units, not the whole consignment or the supplier's future promise.