End-to-end Traceability

How does it work?

Having the information of the complete process of the manufactured good, from the arrival of the materials to the delivery of the product to the customer, will allow us the root of the fault to know if it is necessary to correct a manufacturing set, change a supplier or a manufacturing technology.

Thus, traceability is a risk management tool. However, there are two terms that are usually mixed up but they refer to different production stages: monitoring and tracing.

• Monitoring: it controls the movement of the product from one sequence to the other and how it will move during the production process. It can be used to monitor where are the components, who worked with them until it is assembled and completed. In other words, traceability shows the production progression.
• Tracing: the trail involves identifying the origin of the component of a product through records and the visibility of the complete supply chain. For instance, the material certifications, the origin certification and the purchase numbers allow you to return the pieces to the correct sources. The trail shows the production authentication.

The traceability in the productive processes of a company has become one of the best practices to increase the know-how, make production more efficient and be able to make the most of the business profitability.

Why is process traceability important?

Achieving traceability in your processes will produce the following benefits:

• Access to complete real-time information.
• Elimination of paper-based system, which involves saving money and avoiding the deceleration of production by reducing the working hours and increasing productivity.
• Elimination of human errors.
• Immediate visibility of the tasks in progress, the finished or delayed tasks and their cause.
• Increase in the information of production.
• Clearer and better information about the condition of the equipment in use.

In the internal management framework, more and more industries are focusing their efforts on compliance and quality, two factors that lead to traceability and also make it easy for us to have complete control over the quality, and to manage complaints, faulty products, production inefficiencies and the distribution of responsibilities.