How Model and Serial Plates Help Companies Keep Track of Their Merchandise

You’ve seen these tags on numerous items, and you may have wondered what these are for. You may also know a bit about these model and serial plates but not really understand what all the elements on these tags mean, or how companies actually use these to their advantage. These tags serve more than one purpose for many companies, and one of these is to help them keep track of whatever merchandise they put out.

Serial numbers found on metal nameplates are unique to the item itself. In short, every item that comes off the manufacturing belt carries its own identifying number and letter combination. While model numbers may be similar across items that are pretty much made the same way and carry the same features, serial numbers are codes that are used by individual merchandise and are used to identify each item that a company makes.

There are many reasons why companies employ this particular tagging and identifying system. As mentioned earlier, it is used to help them keep track of every single item that is manufactured by their business. The purpose of needing to be able to track each and every item manufactured is divided into a few other reasons and here are some of them.

One of the main reasons for having these serial codes printed or stamped onto plates that are then attached to individual merchandise, is for companies to be able to know exactly how many items they have made of a particular product during a particular manufacturing run. The numbers that are listed for a particular batch is then grouped together for easier inventory and tracking. This enables them to do a number of things such as:

Recall full batches if these are defective – when a batch is found to have defects, the recall of such items can be easily done with the help of model and serial plates attached to them. These model and serial plates carry the model numbers of such products, and the serial numbers of these items, which usually follow a specific sequence that shows when these were manufactured and with what batch, which then makes it easy to recall. The model number and batch number (which can sometimes be found along with or included in the serial code) will help people know whether or not the item they purchased is part of the group being recalled.

Help consumers determine if what they are buying is not counterfeit or fake – when businesses release a batch of items that just came off of their manufacturing arm, they usually attach model and serial plates that carry unique codes that help people tell if an item is fake or not. Companies usually change up the composition of the serial codes on these plates to help confuse counterfeiters who try to copy even the plates that they use on their products. If a customer is wondering whether a particular model and item they are planning on buying, or have recently bought, is fake or not, they can send the serial code and model code to the company for checking.

Prevents theft and selling of stolen items – when items are stolen, the serial numbers that are on them can be listed, and these can be declared stolen. If these items turn up anywhere, the authorities can be alerted and the items can be taken back or sequestered. This can be a deterrent to theft and can also be used to help retrieve the item or items in question should these be found.

For ease of repair and troubleshooting – when a company has quite a number of items out in the market, repairing and troubleshooting can be quite troublesome if there is no easy way to access and find records and information on how these can be fixed. In a database, you will be able to find out what components an item needs when certain defects are noted. These records can also show warranty information, repair information, the name of the owner and where the item is currently located. All of these can be found out with the use of a model and serial plate.