lotnummer

Lotnummer (Dutch for batch or lot number) is a code assigned to a specific production run of a product. It identifies a group of items manufactured under the same conditions, within a defined period, and is used to trace that group through the supply chain. A lotnummer can be printed or labeled on packaging and is often linked to additional data such as production date, facility, or shift.

Lotnumbers are widely used across industries including pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, cosmetics, chemicals, and consumer electronics. They support quality control, defect investigations, and recalls, allowing companies to isolate a affected batch without discarding all products. They also aid inventory management and traceability, helping to determine where a batch came from and where it was distributed.

Typical formats are alphanumeric and vary by manufacturer. A lotnummer may encode production date, plant code, and sequence numbers, or appear as a simple random or sequential string. It is common for lotnumbers to be accompanied by a serial number for individual items and by an expiry date where relevant. In practice, lotnumbers are linked to databases and made available in barcodes or QR codes to facilitate scanning along the supply chain.

Regulatory frameworks in many jurisdictions require traceability of batches to support recalls and safety monitoring. Standards such as GS1 provide mechanisms to encode and exchange batch/lot information consistently. In Dutch, lotnummer is the standard term for this concept; in other languages, equivalents include batch number or lot code.