Product Management

The wool trading process

Follow a home scour trade from sales contract to invoice. Each step shows the data card the system would create, with realistic example data from the updated data model.

Before we start

How products, batches and groups relate

Product defines what something is. The batch/lot is what you actually trade. Product groups are your lens on the data for reporting. Every card in the process below sits within this hierarchy.

Product Group · Reporting lens
BRE Crosses
User-defined grouping · Many-to-many
Products: 12
Created by: Pete H.
Groups products for position views. "How's my position on crosses?" A product can sit in multiple groups. Groups don't affect trading - they're for reporting.
Reporting Position views
Product · Identity
Grade 226 · Greasy · Crossbred
Canonical identity - the "what"
Grade: 226
Commodity: Greasy
Breed: Crossbred
Wool type: Fleece
Origin: UK
Colour: White
Fixed attributes. Two products with identical attributes can't exist. Used for position reporting, not day-to-day trading.
Unique identity
Inventory Lot · Trading unit
H19736
The actual batch traders work with
Bales: 45
Micron: 31.2
VM%: 1.4%
Cost/kg: £2.85
Every batch varies even within the same product. Customers approve specific batches. Traders allocate specific lots to specific customers - the system doesn't pick for you.
Allocation Invoicing Blending
Multiple batches per product: H19736 and H19801 are both "Grade 226, Greasy, Crossbred, Fleece, UK, White" - but they have different micron, different VM%, different cost, came from different suppliers. You wouldn't send H19801 to a customer who sampled and approved H19736.
Home Scour Process

Step by step: sales contract to invoice

1
Sales contract
Sell-forward model: sales contract created before purchasing. Customer commits to buy a specific wool type.
Contract · Sales
SC-2026-0312
John Cotton Group · HSC Division
Type: Sales
Customer: John Cotton Group
Division: HSC
Currency: GBP
Date: 3 Feb 2026
Status: Open
Payment terms: 90 DAYS
Delivery terms: DAP CLIENTS MILL
Borrowing rate: 8.0% p.a.
Bank account: LLOYDS (SW-GBP)
Print company: Standard Wool (UK) Ltd.
Contract Line Item: SH-0312/L1
Product: Scoured Crossbred Fleece, UK
Lot number: SH-0312
Quantity: 3,200 kg
Price: £6.50/kg clean
Price basis: Clean
Delivery: Mar 2026
Replacement price: £5.80/kg
Est. shipping/kg: £0.10/kg
Insurance rate: 0.55%
Est. total cost of sale: £0.35/kg
Customer: John Cotton Group · Forward contract, customer will call off when ready
2
Purchase wool
Buy raw material to fulfil the sales commitment. Source depends on type: auction, farms, or global suppliers.
Contract · Purchase
PO-2026-0184
British Wool (Auction) · HSC Division
Type: Purchase
Supplier: British Wool
Division: HSC
Currency: GBP
Date: 10 Feb 2026
Status: Open
Contract Line Item: H-0184/L1
Product: Grade 226, Greasy, Crossbred, UK
Lot number: H-0184
Quantity: 8,100 kg greasy
Price: £2.85/kg
Price basis: Greasy
Est. yield: 64%
3
Receive stock
Wool received into warehouse or acknowledged in transit. This creates the inventory lot - the batch traders work with.
Inventory Lot · Greasy (In Stock)
H19736
Product: Grade 226 / Greasy / Crossbred / Fleece / UK / White
Bales: 45
Greasy wt: 8,100 kg
Micron: 31.2
VM%: 1.4%
Cost/kg: £2.85
Currency: GBP
Status: In Stock
Warehouse: Bower Green
Customer: John Cotton Group · Sample approved · Allocated to SC-2026-0312
4a
Search blend history
Trader searches by product + customer. System returns previous blends as recipe cards. Goal: find the last blend delivered to this customer and match as closely as possible.
Previous Blend · Most Recent
BL26031
Scoured Crossbred Fleece → John Cotton Group
Date: 18 Jan 2026
Output: SS15401
Output wt: 3,050 kg
Yield: 63.8%
Input recipe:
H19502Grade 226, Crossbred, UK45% H19488Grade 226, Crossbred, UK35% H19390Grade 311, Fine, NZ20%
Clone this blend View details
Previous Blend · Older
BL25289
Scoured Crossbred Fleece → John Cotton Group
Date: 4 Nov 2025
Output: SS15210
Output wt: 2,880 kg
Yield: 62.1%
Input recipe:
H19301Grade 226, Crossbred, UK50% H19277Grade 226, Crossbred, UK30% H19195Grade 311, Fine, NZ20%
Clone this blend
4b
Clone, adjust & instruct
System creates a new blend from the clone. Trader swaps in available greasy lots (originals may be consumed), adjusts percentages. Trader's judgement - the system doesn't suggest.
New Blend · Cloned from BL26031
BL26047
Target: Scoured Crossbred Fleece → John Cotton Group
Division: HSC
Processor: Chadwicks
Total planned: 5,000 kg greasy
Target wt clean: 3,200 kg
Cloned from: BL26031
Product group: BRE Crosses
Instructions: Standard scour. Light grey acceptable.
Planned inputs (adjusted from clone):
H19736Grade 226, Crossbred, UK45%Greasy £2.85/kgClean £4.45/kgYield 64%Available H19801Grade 226, Crossbred, UK35%Greasy £2.90/kgClean £4.53/kgYield 64%Available H19655Grade 311, Fine, NZ20%Greasy £3.10/kgClean £4.77/kgYield 65%Available
Original lots (H19502, H19488, H19390) consumed. Trader swapped in current stock with similar attributes.
Customer: John Cotton Group · Blend created to fulfil SC-2026-0312
Send to Chadwicks Edit inputs Change % Discard
5
Scour at Chadwicks
Blend instruction sent. Chadwicks calls in stock, scours across rounds, packs output, returns packing list and invoice.
Document
Blend instruction
BL26047 sent to Chadwicks with lots, weights, percentages.
Returns
Packing list + invoice
Actual bale weights and processing cost (£680) returned.
6
Result the blend
Actual weights replace estimates. Greasy stock consumed. New scoured lot created with rolled-up cost.
Inventory Lot · Scoured (Blend Output)
SS15513
Product: Scoured Crossbred Fleece, UK, White
Bales: 20
Clean wt: 3,200 kg
Yield: 64.0%
Run no: C35211
Cost/kg: £5.24
Currency: GBP
Warehouse: Thomas Chadwick
Blend inputs consumed:
H19736Grade 226, Crossbred, UK2,295 kg H19801Grade 226, Crossbred, UK1,720 kg H19655Grade 311, Fine, NZ985 kg
Blend cost lines:
TypeSourceProcessorQtyRateTotalCurrencyInvoice ref
Processing CostExternalChadwicks5,000 kg43.70 p/kg£2,185.00GBP26700/5540/C35211
Andar OpenerExternalChadwicks3,200 kg1.00 p/kg£32.00GBP26700/5540/C35211
Output lot value derived: input costs + processing = £5.24/kg
Customer: John Cotton Group · Ready to dispatch against SC-2026-0312
New lot created
7
Allocate to customer
Trader picks a specific batch for this customer. Deliberate decision based on sample approvals and batch quality. System doesn't auto-allocate.
Lot Allocation
SS15513 → SC-2026-0312
20 bales, 3,200 kg allocated to John Cotton Group
Lot: SS15513
Sales line: SC-2026-0312/L1
Allocated wt: 3,200 kg
Allocated bales: 20
Customer: John Cotton Group · Batch sampled and approved · Ready to dispatch
8
Dispatch
Delivery instruction to warehouse and haulier. Sometimes the warehouse picks which bales to load (based on stacking order), sometimes the trader specifies which bales. If goods are in transit or going direct, no warehouse pick. Packing list generated from bale data.
Document · Auto-generated
Packing List
20 bales from SS15513. Gross, tare, nett per bale. Generated from bale data - no manual re-entry of weights.
Customer: John Cotton Group
Bale (example)
Bale 1 of 20
Gross: 168.4 kg
Tare: 1.2 kg
Nett: 167.2 kg
Marks: SW/SS15513/1
Delivery Stage
Shipment 1 of 1
Planned date: 18 Mar 2026
Ship to: Bradford
Status: Dispatched
BoL date: 15 Mar 2026
BoL ref: BOL-2026-0441
Container: MSCU7234561
9
Invoice & margin
Invoice generated from contract + allocation data. Conditioned weight calculated. Margin = sale price minus lot cost. Journal lines posted to Dynamics GP.
Document · Sales Invoice
S41947
John Cotton Group · SC-2026-0312
Type: Sales Invoice
Company: John Cotton Group
Contract: SC-2026-0312
Issue date: 15 Mar 2026
Total: £20,384
Currency: GBP
GP Company: SWB
GP nominal (stock): 4500
GP nominal (movement): 0575
GP posted: Yes
Derived from allocation + lot data:
Lot: SS15513
Clean wt: 3,200 kg
Conditioned wt: 3,136 kg
Price/kg: £6.50 clean
Cost of sale:
Lot cost/kg: £5.24
Est. shipping: £0.10/kg
Insurance: £0.04/kg
Payment term cost: £0.08/kg
Commission: n/a
Actual shipping cost: Pending
Shipping invoice ref: —
Gross margin/kg: £1.26
Conditioned weight, cost, and margin are calculated from lot and allocation data - not stored on the document. Each document creates balanced debit/credit journal lines for export to Dynamics GP (SWB or JHP company).
Customer: John Cotton Group · Invoice issued · GP posted
Multi-currency

Punta division: export sale in EUR

The walkthrough above is a domestic GBP trade through the Home Scour division (GP company: SWB). Punta trades are export, typically in EUR or USD, posted to a separate GP company (JHP) with different nominal codes. Here is what a Punta sale invoice card looks like.

Document · Sales Invoice · JHP Company
J14255
Biella, Italy · Punta Division · Export
Division: PUNTA
GP Company: JHP
Currency: EUR
Exchange rate: 0.8610
Invoice total (EUR): €34,594.77
Base amount (GBP): £40,179.76
Payment terms: 120 DAYS
Delivery terms: DAP CLIENTS MILL
Bank: LLOYDS (JH-EUR)
Print company: Jacomb Hoare (Bradford)
Stock · Lot JH710
Description: 19.5 RWS Punta Arenas Super Fleece Wool Top
Conditioning: 18.25%
Nett wt: 2,217 kg
Conditioned wt: 2,454 kg
Price: 1228.34 c/kg (EUR)
Price basis: Clean
Commission
Agent: Biella Carlane SNC
Rate: 2.00%
Amount (EUR): €691.90
Base (GBP): £803.60
FX hedge
Forward contract: FX-2026-0087
Provider: LLOYDS
Contracted rate: 0.8610
Maturity date: 17 Jul 2026
Amount hedged: €34,594.77
Status: Active
Rate locked at contract date. Maturity aligned to payment terms (120 days from invoice). FX gain/loss calculated when conversion happens at actual rate vs contracted rate.
GP journal pattern (JHP)
Dr C45044 €40,179.76 — customer receivable
Cr 0235 €40,179.76 — sales Punta tops export
Cr 4500 €27,226.15 — stock off balance sheet
Dr 0575 €27,226.15 — stock movement P&L
Dr 0675 €803.60 — agents commissions
Cr V37010 €803.60 — commission agent payable
What changes between divisions
HSC vs Punta
GP company
HSC → SWB
Punta → JHP
Purchase nominal
SWB: 0500 (purchases)
JHP: 0560 (Punta greasy)
Sales nominal
SWB: (not in this export)
JHP: 0235 (Punta tops export)
Commission
SWB: n/a in this example
JHP: 0675 (agents commissions)
Currency
HSC: typically GBP
Punta: EUR, USD, NZD
FX
Forward contracts cover back to GBP. Invoice shows both foreign and base amounts.
Notes
  • For creating new blends: clone a previous blend, adjust inputs. Trader stays in control.
  • For reporting: blend history supports average input percentages per product, yield trends, cost analysis.
  • GP journal generation: each document creates balanced debit/credit lines for export to Dynamics GP (SWB or JHP company).