@Jessica L This does not really have much to do with NetSuite is more an inventory/planning kind of a thing.... - A good practice is to define a name convention for inventory items at the company level. - Get it approved at all possible levels. - Made a custom scripts which will generate the Item based on the rules defined on this naming convention. - With the above script entirely eliminate the MANUAL entry of Items... In the other hand NetSuite also have a free and official bundle named: Customer Part Number which allow you to have a part number per customer for a given Item.

thanks for your response! we do currently have a custom script that eliminates the need for complete manual item creation however, as we are a manufacturing company, I do feel it can be simplified a bit further for cross-departmental use. I'll look into that bundle, thanks!