How do you read a Lot Number?
John Thompson
Updated on January 18, 2026
Lot numbers have 2 parts: a letter, followed by a series of numbers. The letter corresponds to the month the product was manufactured: (A = January, B = February, C = March, D = April, E = May, F = June, G = July, H = August, I = September, J = October, K = November, L = December).
How do I decode a lot number?
How to Read Lot Numbers
- The first two digits (17) is the year of manufacture (2017)
- The next two digits (12) is the month of manufacture (December)
- The next two digits (22) is the day of the month of manufacture (22nd)
- The next digit (7) is our inter-company plant number which represents our facility.
What do lot numbers tell you?
A lot number is a unique code that manufacturers assign to a batch of goods they've produced in the same run using the same ingredients, parts, or materials.How do you find the expiration date on a lot number?
How to Find Expiration Date by Lot Number
- The first two digits (19) refer to the year of manufacture (2019)
- The next two digits (03) identify the month the product was manufactured (March) or the date of manufacture.
- The following two numerals (22) refer to the day of the year.
What do lot numbers on products mean?
Lot numbers identify products that were manufactured at the same time as a batch, while serial numbers are unique to each product. These identification numbers are useful in product recalls, inventory management, and product compliance identification.reading large numbers
How do you read a batch code?
All Batch Numbers are based on the Date-of-Fill not necessarily the Date-of-Manufacture. For example, the Lot Number 031220 indicates that the product was put in the can on the 3rd (03) of December (12) 2018 (20). There is a 3-digit lot number for the corresponding Hardener. This is a sequential lot number.What is lot number example?
Example: LOT # B-01580609 means that the product was manufactured on February 15, 2008 and the earliest expiration date for any item in the kit is June, 2009.Why are the lot numbers so important?
Lot numbers enable manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to perform quality control checks, calculate expiration dates, and issue corrections or recall information to subsets of their production output.What is the difference between lot number and batch number?
The difference between Serial and Lot numbersWe assign the serial number to one piece (quantity = 1). Eg, each piece has a unique number. LOT number (batch number) is a unique number of entire produced series. The lot number can be common, regardless of quantity or the item itself.
Can I know the expiry date by batch number?
The batch number of a product can be decoded as follows:The year of manufacture is represented by the first two digits of the batch number. The third and fourth digits of the number refer to the month of production. The fifth and sixth figures identify the day it was manufactured.