What is an article master?
Most companies, whether in retail or manufacturing, carry more than one product. If there are several articles, they are all placed together in one article master. The data in this article master is usually collected as master data in an enterprise resource planning system.
The article master also plays an important role in logistics. In the case of perishable foodstuffs, for example, it stores expiration dates that are relevant for the correct temporal storage and camouflage transport of these goods.
Each article can be found by its article number in the article master. Most packaged products have barcodes that, when scanned, directly call up the corresponding entry in the item master.
What information is contained in an article master?
Each article master contains certain characteristics of the contained articles. These include, for example:
- Item number
- Article description
- Weight
- Color
- Form
- Size
- Country of origin
- Manufacturer
- Value of goods
Of course, the features contained in the article master differ from product to product, just as these products decide among themselves.
