Glossary
Unit of measure (UOM)
A unit of measure is the unit a quantity is counted or handled in: pieces, dozen, case, master case, pallet. One of them is the base unit; the rest convert into it through pack factors.
What it is
A unit of measure, UOM, is the unit a quantity is counted or handled in. Pieces, dozen, case, master case, pallet: each is a UOM. One of them is the base unit, the unit the ledger counts in, usually pieces. The rest are handling units, and each one converts into the base unit through a pack factor.
A UOM code is just a label with a conversion behind it. PCS means one piece. DZ means 12. CASE means however many pieces the case factor says. The code on a line tells the system which conversion to apply.
Why it matters
Every quantity in a warehouse wears a unit, and a number without a unit is a guess. Twelve can be twelve pieces, twelve dozen, or twelve cases, and those are three different realities. The UOM is what makes the number mean something, and the conversion is what makes different units comparable.
Mixing units without converting is the classic inventory error. A receipt of 2 cases entered as 2 pieces understates stock by the whole case factor. A pick of 2 dozen entered as 2 cases overstates it. The UOM on each record is what keeps those apart.
A worked example
SKU WDG-1040 sells by the dozen, 12 pieces to a dozen. A receipt of 2 dozen is 24 pieces. A pick of 3 dozen is 36 pieces. A case of the same product holds 24 pieces, so one case is two dozen. The ledger counts 24, 36, and 24 in pieces, and each movement keeps the unit it was entered in: 2 DZ, 3 DZ, 1 CASE.
How DockingWare does it
The base unit is pieces. Every handling unit carries an active conversion into pieces, and every movement stores the entered quantity, the entered unit, and the factor used when the base quantity divides evenly. A receipt of two dozen reads as 2 DZ x 12 = 24 PCS, and that is what the ledger keeps.
See also: When the case size changes, the pieces stay the same.
Questions
- What is a unit of measure?
- The unit a quantity is expressed in. Pieces is the counting unit. Dozen, case, master case, and pallet are handling units. Each handling unit converts into the base unit through its pack factor.
- Why not count everything in pieces?
- Because people do not handle pieces. They receive cases, pick dozens, and ship pallets. The system counts in pieces and lets operators work in the unit that matches the physical job.
- What unit does a movement record?
- The unit that was entered. A movement stores the entered quantity, the entered unit, and the factor used when the base quantity divides evenly, so the record says what the operator actually did.