Settling goods-in disputes before they become invoices
A delivery arrives light. Six weeks later somebody is arguing about it. How to close that on the day.
Short deliveries are normal. Ingredients settle, drums are not exactly full, a pallet is damaged in transit. What turns a routine variance into a dispute is time: nobody records it precisely on the day, and six weeks later two companies are reconstructing it from memory and a photograph nobody can date.
Weighing against the order at the point of receipt costs a few minutes and removes almost all of this. What matters is not just recording the number, but both companies agreeing to it while the pallet is still in front of someone.
The other half is lot capture. If the supplier lot goes onto the record at the moment of weighing, a trace is a query. If it is written on a clipboard and typed up later, a trace is an afternoon.
What to actually do
- Weigh against the order, not just the paperworkThe delivery note says what was sent. The scale says what arrived. Only one of those is evidence.
- Photograph it at receiptDamage argued about later is damage nobody can prove. A photo timestamped on the day ends it.
- Capture the supplier lot as you weighThat single link is the whole traceability chain. Reconstructed later, it is guesswork.
- Get the brand to agree the number the same dayA variance both companies acknowledged on Tuesday is a fact. One raised in six weeks is a dispute.
- Record who received itNot to assign blame — so that when a question comes up, there is somebody who actually remembers.
Goods-in in NextBatch weighs against what was ordered, takes photos, captures the lot, and both companies shake on the figure that arrived. It is on the record the same day, with two names against it.