Traceability in the industrial process must be applied in different ways. Meet some of them!
The fierce competition in global markets increases the need for quality assurance in products and services offered to users and end consumers. This requires transparency on the part of companies in relation to their production processes and their supply chains.
This logic applies to all types of industry, and especially to production. Therefore, traceability in the industrial process has among its objectives to safeguard the entire production history of a given product. That is: recording from the origin of the raw material, through the production process itself, to the final destination.
This production traceability system must be reliable to the point of satisfying the expectations of all interested parties. Thus, it is possible to meet the expectations of an increasingly demanding and well-informed public in relation to market offers.
Integrated traceability systems
Due to this high requirement, tracking production manually is no longer a valid alternative for companies. It is necessary to seek solutions such as tracking in real-time to meet your internal processes.
An alternative widely used today is the integration of the MES (Manufacturing Execution System) with the company’s ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. In this way, it is possible to monitor the progress in real time, from the raw material to the final product. In addition, it enables the reduction of losses and, consequently, generates an increase in productivity.
In this context, traceability in the industrial process can be applied in different ways. They range from simple barcode labels affixed to the product to codes engraved in RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification).
In an industry, traceability can be applied, for example in the asset management of a factory. It thus allows controlling location changes, monitoring the availability and compliance status of a range of factory supplies.
Internal logistics is another area where traceability in the industrial process is widely applied. Thus, RFID tags can be fixed on pallets and containers to assist in a company’s internal logistics. This avoids losses and organizes intralogistics in an agile and practical way.
Benefits of traceability in the industrial process
Every quality problem is considered a loss for the company. If it was identified during the production process, rework is required, but this is under control. However, when the nonconformity reaches the final consumer, this loss can reach a much wider scope. The problem is even more serious when the company does not have a reliable and quick traceability system to identify the problem.
The benefits of a traceability system are many
In addition to ensuring that the product passes through all the processes and quality tests required throughout the production process, this system identifies and delimits a potential quality problem that has escaped process controls, helping the company to contain the problem.
There are numerous cases of large vehicle manufacturers that, even having opened a recall process to exchange a defective component in the product already sold to their customers, demonstrated reliability in their traceability process, delimiting the production batch and making the exchange punctual effect of the detected effect.
This type of situation is the result of traceability in the industrial process. The entire process favors customer loyalty, which thus trusts the company’s quality policy and transparency in dealing with problems.
