Did you know that in 2017, around 700,000 contaminated eggs from Belgian and Dutch farms were distributed to the UK? This is a great example of why product traceability is super important for any manufacturing facility. We have put together this short guide on how to improve your traceability in manufacturing as soon as possible.
Keep reading to learn the ins and outs of improving your own traceability.
1. Record Keeping
A great way to improve your product traceability program is to put the proper records in place. You want to make sure that you are always maintaining proper logs of your product order numbers, expiration dates, timestamps of production, and batch numbers. When you are organized with the information above you are able to easily and quickly locate any products that are not good and might have to be recalled.
No matter the industry timestamps and markings are super important. You can learn more about how to have the best markings even in the automotive industry.
2. Proactive Monitoring
If you spot problems as soon as possible, it will help your company avoid any potential issues from becoming worst. We recommend putting a proactive monitoring system in place to make it easier to catch defective products that are in circulation.
Use product traceability systems that give you real-time information on production progress. The easiest way to get a system in place is to study your processes of manufacturing and determine how many people you need to manually spot-check products as they are being made.
3. Mock Recalls
Sometimes creating mock recall drills is a great way to figure out how long it will take the company to recoup any products that are either defective or contaminated. In order to do this, you will need to stage a practice or mock recall and see how challenging it is for your team to complete.
This will help you learn how long it will take everyone to get a defective product off the market. With this data, you can then figure out if there are any deficiencies in your traceability process and you can take the time to improve or fix these issues.
Benefits
One of the main benefits of traceability is that you can always see how you can improve how products and parts move through your manufacturing process. If this type of data is not easily accessible you will lose opportunities to improve.
Another benefit is that any problems and issues are identified quickly. The faster issues are resolved, the least impact they will have on other people or other companies. This means a lot less liability for you.
Feeling Like a Product Traceability Pro?
We hope that now that you know the top ways you can improve your product traceability, you are feeling more confident in moving forward. The last thing any facility wants is to get the world sick by accident and to be found at fault for not taking enough precautions.
Did this blog post help you out today? Please keep browsing the rest of our business section for some more tips.
