License Plates in the Warehouse

License Plates have been used in Warehouse Management Software (WMS) for decades but may also be found in general inventory tracking software products.
A license plate is based on an otherwise meaningless number (the license plate number or LPN) that serves as a key identifier that associates the characteristics of a storage unit with the license plate.
A license plate is basically a label with the license plate number in a barcode that you can scan to access additional information associated with the storage unit.

A license plate can be associated with a pallet, a carton, a bulk container, a single unit of an item, a tote, or whatever you use to physically move and store inventory in your warehouse.
A license plate can be used with a full pallet of the same item or a mixed pallet of several items. However, the norm would be to have one item per license plate.
In the case of a single-item LPN, the system would associate the item number, the quantity, and other characteristics such as physical size, weight, cube, date(s).
License plate numbers are typically assigned as part of the receiving process, though you could assign them in other processes. License plates can be preprinted labels, or you can produce them internally as part of the receiving (or other) process.
Preprinted ASN labels. Numerous businesses sell preprinted LPN labels. As I previously stated, these numbers are meaningless outside of the LPN process, so all you need to do is make sure the preprinted license plate numbers have not been used previously. When used as part of a receiving process, you would scan the LPN to tell the system that this is the LPN I’m associating with this storage unit.

LPN Small

The advantages of preprinted labels include simplicity of processes and simplicity of use. You just need to keep a roll of labels wherever you may need to initiate an LPN. The main disadvantage is that the LPN label does not have any additional information you may find useful later on.
Printing LPN labels as part of an internal process.

Many operations will choose to generate their own LPNs. The main reason for this is you can generate a label with additional information on it that may be useful in subsequent processes. For example, you may want the item number, description, and quantity on the storage unit.
In the example below, I’ve also included the primary bin, the receipt date, the unit weight that can be scanned into a counting scale, and the lot number. These additional data elements could be used for subsequent tasks in this specific warehouse.

LPN Large

Static vs Dynamic License Plates

In some software, if you pick a quantity out of a carton that has a license plate, that license plate number becomes invalid (a static LPN). In other software, the quantity change may be updated to data associated with the license plate (dynamic LPN).
With a dynamic LPN, you can later execute transactions by scanning just the LPN barcode; however, with a static LPN, you would have to manually execute transactions by entering the Item Number and Quantity (and possibly the LOT or Serial Number).
This is why it’s important to thoroughly understand how your software product works.