Meet CAROL.

Ingredients and packaging arrive with the supplier’s certificate of analysis (COA). CAROL gives each lot its own lot number and label, files the COA with it, and holds the lot in quarantine.

Nothing in quarantine can go into a batch.

Quality reviews each lot and its COA, then releases or rejects it with an electronic signature. CAROL asks for the signer’s password again before it records the decision.

Only released lots can be weighed into a batch. Every change is logged: who changed what, when, and why.

The operator picks what to make and how many. CAROL scales the formula to that batch, checks that released stock covers it, and lists every ingredient and amount. The formula itself stays encrypted. Only QA can see it.

Each ingredient is weighed out by scanning its lot label. CAROL suggests the lot that expires first, and skipping it takes a reason. A reading out of range, like a capsule fill weight, goes to QA as a deviation. The operator signs the batch complete.

Another QA person reviews the batch record and releases the finished product. Until then, it cannot be sold.

A finished lot expires no later than the soonest-expiring ingredient in it.

New orders appear in CAROL under To ship. The warehouse scans each pouch it packs, and CAROL records exactly which lot went into which order.

That trace runs both ways: from a supplier’s lot to every order it shipped in, and back. If a lot ever needs a recall, CAROL shows where every unit went.

CAROL keeps each connected store’s stock count current: released, unexpired pouches, minus orders still waiting to ship.

When a product runs low, CAROL queues the next batch, or flags the ingredients to reorder. A person still starts and signs every batch.