He wrote down in a excel form:
Labeling inventory items with identification codes is a necessary step for inventory management. This procedure is also described as preparing and creating SKU numbers, but How to create SKU numbers?
Creating and organizing SKU numbers is very simple, but to create meaningful SKU numbers in a beautiful format, there are some tips you should master.
Although a barcode scanner can identify meaningless serial numbers and letter codes, you will benefit from SKU numbers if you create and make them with predicable and understandable rules.
What do good SKU numbers look like?
Let me show you some real examples with some organization methods, you know, examples worth many words.
James owns a factory that makes shoes. There are many styles, which can be divided into many types. For example, there are shoes for men, for women, for girls and for boys. These can further be categorized by season, such as spring, summer, fall, and winter, so How to create and organize SKU numbers for the shoes in the warehouse?
James preferred numbers and hate letters. He asked his friend Bob to help. Bob is very smart and knows his boss well. First, he makes a dictionary for organizing SKU numbers.
He made great and clear dictionary rules. Now he created some inventory SKU numbers for men’s shoes with size 30 for spring. He can easily create numbers like these:
He makes a great and clear dictionarly rule, now he can start to create inventory SKU, for men shoes with size 30 for spring, he can easily create codes like this
11000130
11000230
…
With this dictionary at hand, when he has labels marked with one of the above numbers, he can easily identify what the code means and where to locate the item in the warehouse. He doesn’t need to query through inventory software, and this saves time and some cost.
Mistakes to avoid when creating SKU numbers
The above is a simple example. You can combine letters with numbers when making rules for sku numbers, but you have to avoid such mistakes:
- Starts with zero.
- Contains special characters.
- Contains easily confused letters and numbers like o, 0, l and 1 etc.
- Contains many characters, it’s better to limit characters to 10.
- Uses manufacturer’s numbers or part numbers.
Good planning and meaningful rules can not only make your SKU numbers look professional and elegant, but also promote your work done efficiently.
If you have many inventory items to handle, manually creating SKU numbers will be time-consuming and error-prone.
Fortunately, we have a small tool of the SKU Number Generator, and it can generate thousands of SKU numbers in seconds once the rules are set.
Once you are familiar with the SKU rules and have some experience, then you will find it much easier to manage orders in an efficient and accurate