1.Container: Anything that can be used to contain, easily store, move and transport products is a container. A container can occupy multiple SKU's  in it.

2.SKU: Stock-keeping unit is a specific quantity of a material with a specific lot code on a container. An SKU cannot have two lot codes.

Example of a container: a wooden pallet

Detailed Explanation of concepts on Containers and SKU's in iMake

•A unique number is generated/allotted to identify each product or material of the same lot on a container. This unique number is called as an SKU ID.

•An SKU has the inventories of material in a Location (unit) along with containers information. It can be Lot tracked or Serial Number tracked.

•Every SKU must be in/on a Container. There can be more than one SKU on one container. Those SKUs could be of same or different materials, same or different lot codes.

•Taking ‘sugar’ as an example, a product record describes all the details of the product, such as, Description, Product Type, Lot Code, Pack Type, Status, Dimensions, Owner, Shelf Life etc.  If ten 50-pound sacks of sugar are present on a pallet, then the "Container" is the pallet and the "SKU" is the 10 sacks of Sugar.  If the sugar is Lot tracked, then all the sacks of sugar must have the same Lot Code to be one SKU.  If 5 sacks of sugar have a Lot code 12022 and the other 5 sacks have a Lot code 12028, and are placed on the same pallet, then two SKUs would be identified.

•Products are assigned with a list of possible owners, whereas an SKU can have only one owner. The owner of an SKU can be changed at any time by a user with sufficient privileges.

•Ideally, every container will have a container ‘barcode’ label and every SKU will have an SKU label.  Having a barcode for every SKU on a container makes it easier to identify specific Lots of a product.

•If an organization has a restriction of having only one SKU per container, SKU labels may not be necessary.

•If an organization allows more than one SKU per container, labels identifying the SKUs will be necessary.

•An easier way to store multiple SKUs on one container is to use multiple container labels on one physical container/pallet, one for each SKU.  This eliminates the confusion that may arise with multiple lots on one physical container.

 

a container with one SKU

w   a container with two SKU's