Batch tracking and production scheduling

> Cost: Freemium. Katana is free for up to 30 products (SKUs) with all features, unlimited users and the API. Beyond that you need Advantage, a custom annual contract (by quote); traceability, the shop floor app and the AI connector are listed under it.

Honest note: Rule-based software, not AI, and it keeps the records food-safety inspectors want but does not make you compliant on its own. Katana's page title says 70% and its body says almost 80% for inventory control (the body figure is used here). The 100% production figure has no baseline.

Prerequisites

• A Katana account (the free plan works for a pilot of up to 30 SKUs).
• Your product recipes (what goes into each item and how much), current stock counts, and supplier lead times.

Step-by-step setup

Step 1. Load your data and run both systems for a month. Import your products, materials and suppliers by spreadsheet (Katana's import templates), count stock, and enter opening balances. Keep your old system running in parallel until a stock count matches.

Step 2. Build each product as a recipe. Open Items, open the product card and add its recipe (bill of materials: every material or sub-product and the quantity) and its operations (the manufacturing steps, with production time). Break the process into steps per product, so each step knows what it uses. A sub-product with its own recipe can be an ingredient of the finished product, and Katana can create manufacturing orders for those sub-products automatically.

Step 3. Turn on batch (lot) tracking. Open Items, open the item card and in the tracking section choose Batch / lot numbers. Existing stock becomes "unbatched", so assign it to batches. Add expiry dates on the batch where the product is perishable. Find a batch later under Stock → Batches, where Traceability Explorer shows where it came from and which orders it went to.

Step 4. Run the master schedule. Open Make → Schedule. Every manufacturing order sits in one list, top = highest priority. Drag an order up or down and Katana instantly re-reserves materials and recalculates production deadlines. The Ingredients column shows In stock, Expected or Not available for each order, so a shortfall is visible before you start. Click Not available to see which material is missing. This reservation by priority is what Katana calls auto-booking: nothing is tied to one order, higher-ranked orders just claim material first.

Step 5. Hand out the work. On Make → Tasks, tasks are listed by resource and operator; set Assigned To (or bulk Assign to) so each person sees theirs. Operators complete tasks in the Shop Floor App, a mobile-friendly web app. Katana's pricing page lists the shop floor app under Advantage, so check your plan.

Easier: let your AI do it

Katana has an official MCP server, a secure plug that lets an AI chat like Claude or ChatGPT read and update your Katana data with your permission. Katana's pricing page lists it under Advantage.

1. The account owner has access by default. To give someone else access, open your profile → Team → pick the user → Admin tab → switch on Access to MCP.
2. In Claude, open Customize → Connectors, click +, then Add custom connector. Name it Katana, paste https://mcp.katanamrp.com (no slash at the end), click Add, then Connect and sign in to Katana. It also works with ChatGPT.
3. Ask things like "Which materials will run short for this week's manufacturing orders?" It can read, create and update records, but it can't delete anything.

What success looks like

Expiry and supplier tracing no longer live in a spreadsheet, and the schedule shows in one view what to produce next.

Common issues & fixes

• Imported stock looks wrong: run old and new systems side by side for a short time and reconcile with a stock count before you switch off the old one.
• Old stock shows as "unbatched": assign it to a batch after turning on tracking.
• No traceability option: it is listed under Advantage on Katana's pricing page. Ask Katana what your plan includes.

Optional: Maintenance

• Quarterly: run a mock recall from one ingredient batch and time it.

Copy-paste prompt

Use this with any AI chat. It helps you write a mock-recall drill.

Help me write a mock-recall drill for a small food maker that tracks batches in inventory software. Include: picking one ingredient batch, tracing it to finished batches and customer orders, who does what, a time target, and a one-page report template (batch, affected products, customers, quantities, actions). Plain language, under 300 words. Remind me to check local food-safety rules with my adviser.

Sources

• Case: Katana case study (tortilla factory). Credit: the factory's managing director (vendor-published).
• Katana pricing
• Katana MCP overview
• Katana Help: Connect Katana to Claude (MCP)
• Katana Help: Enabling item batch tracking
• Katana Help: Understanding product recipes (BOMs)
• Katana Help: Make screen (Schedule)
• Katana Help: Assigning tasks to shop floor operators