Pick + Backward Flushing on Lot tracked-Items

Process Manufacturing  •  Article  •  7/22/2026  • 

Materials and components that must be consumed during production can be set up with the Pick + Backward flushing method. This functionality extends the standard backflush-on-lot capability to automatically calculate and assign lot numbers, and license plate numbers when applicable, for lot-tracked components that use the Pick + Backward flushing method.

In standard Business Central, the Pick + Backward flushing method requires a warehouse or inventory pick to be created for a production component before consumption is posted. With this extension, the system automatically assigns item tracking lines when:

  • You change the status of a released production order to Finished, or
  • You finish an operation linked to a routing link code during output posting.

The finished quantity of the production order line dictates the quantity that needs to be assigned in the item tracking lines for the consumption journal lines. The total quantity of all item tracking lines that are automatically created for a consumption journal line adds up to the result of the finished quantity (of the prod. order line) multiplied by the Quantity Per of the associated production component line.

There is a distinction between lot numbers that are created with and without an expiration date. When an expiration date has been assigned, the lot numbers with the earliest expiration date (with a remaining quantity) will be assigned in the item tracking lines. This method follows the FEFO (First Expired, First Out) principle. However, lot numbers without an expiration date will be assigned based on FIFO (First In, First Out). This means that the item ledger entry (with a remaining quantity) with the lowest Entry No. will be assigned first.

Pick + Backward Flushing On Lot Number setup

  1. Select the Search icon, enter the Process Manufacturing Setup and then choose the related link.
    The Process Manufacturing Setup page opens.
  2. Turn on the Pick + Backward Flushing On Lot Number toggle.

This specifies if lot numbers are automatically assigned for consumption items that are set up with the Pick + Backward flushing method.

Exceptions during auto-assignment of Lot numbers

The following exceptions are considered when automatically assigning lot numbers for production components with the Pick + Backward flushing method:

  • If the Item Tracking code used by the component item is set with Strict Expiration Posting = Yes, then expired lot numbers are skipped when assigning the lot numbers in the automatically assigned item tracking lines.
  • If the Aptean Inspection Status extension has been installed and a lot number has an Inspection Status assigned with the setting Production Consumption Pick = Yes and/or Production Consumption Availability = Yes, then the lot number is skipped when assigning the lot numbers in the automatically assigned item tracking lines.
  • If the lot number information card has the setting Blocked = Yes, the lot number is skipped when assigning the lot numbers in the automatically assigned item tracking lines.
  • While assigning item tracking lines to the production component lines, if there is not enough inventory available, then an error is shown that there is insufficient inventory. This can, for example, be caused by an existing reservation for the item that must be flushed.
  • If the item tracking lines are already assigned to the associated production component line (for example because they are manually assigned) then the auto-assignment of these item tracking lines will be skipped. If the total quantity of the manually assigned item tracking lines is insufficient, an error message will be shown.

  • If the lot number is already assigned in the item tracking lines to be used in another document, these quantities are taken into consideration when assigning the lot number. The lot numbers and quantities that are placed in an inventory pick and/or warehouse pick are not considered in the calculation.

    If you also use the Aptean Food and Beverage License Plating extension, when changing the status of the Released Production Order page to Finished, the Pick + Backward flushing functionality automatically assigns the lot numbers and license plates belonging to the lot numbers in the item tracking lines. If the license plate card has the setting Blocked = Yes, then the license plate number is skipped when assigning the item tracking lines.

  • In case of an empty Bin Code (and possibly an empty Location Code) in the Prod. Order Component line, the functionality will look for inventory that is stocked without a Bin Code (and possibly without a Location Code) to assign lot-tracked consumption items.

  • In case of warehouse entries that are created without a lot number (which can be caused when an item is set up with an Item Tracking Code without the setting Lot Warehouse Tracking turned on), the assignment of lot numbers will not consider the Bin Code that is mentioned on the Prod. Order Component line as a filter. For proper working, use an Item Tracking Code with this setting turned on.