One physical container does not necessarily equal one manufacturing lot. A reel or bag may legitimately contain material associated with several source identities, subject to the supplier’s product and packaging rules. Your traceability system should preserve that relationship instead of forcing a convenient one-to-one assumption.
Separate container identity from source identity
TI’s quality and packaging FAQ distinguishes shipment and lot trace codes. The practical implication is to determine what each identifier means before using it as a database key. An internal receiving label can identify a container without replacing its original source-lot information.
Read the supplier label and supporting documents for the actual shipment. If several lots are listed, record all of them with any available quantities or boundaries. Do not infer a single lot from a shared date code, and do not invent component-level precision when only container-level information is provided.
Model combinations explicitly
| Record | Relationship to preserve |
|---|---|
| Received container | All source lots documented as present. |
| Split child container | Parent identity and known or possible source-lot membership. |
| Combined production kit | Each contributing container and its quantity movement. |
| Consumed assembly range | The defensible set of possible source lots. |
Use the split-package handoff whenever material is divided. If the precise source-lot boundary within a reel is unavailable, splitting it into two internal containers does not magically create that missing boundary.
Use uncertainty to bound containment
For example, a bag associated with lots A and B is used across several assembly orders. If lot B later requires investigation and consumption cannot be distinguished by lot, both orders may belong in the possible affected population. Assigning the first half of the bag to A based on convenience would create false precision and could exclude affected boards.
The containment population map should carry this uncertainty explicitly. Better source records or validated package boundaries can narrow the population; relabeling cannot.
Agree special single-lot requirements during purchasing if the product needs them, and verify the received evidence. Preserve original labels after internal relabeling. The goal is a traceable set of relationships that matches physical reality, even when that reality is more complex than one lot code per inventory row.
Move from reading to a build-ready project
Use the fabrication and assembly checklists to prepare drawings, production files and test requirements.
Open the DFM checklist