Why traceability is important within process manufacturing

Posted by Glynn Williams on 20 Aug

lean-manufacturing

Traceability is a vital aspect in many industries, including the manufacturing and processing sectors, as it provides a framework to effectively track and, if needed, recall products safely and transparently.

Being able to effectively track and trace products along the supply chain is more important than ever for all types of manufacturing industries. Thankfully, there have been significant innovations, particularly with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, that can empower you, with a more transparent, effective ways to deliver traceability across your supply chains.


Benefits of traceability

Well implemented traceability is a safety net for manufacturing operations, which produce a lot of products. There are a whole host of benefits associated with traceability, particularly for those in the manufacturing and processing sectors.


Safeguarding businesses

If your business can quickly respond to a problem in the supply chain, there will be a much greater chance that the problem can be resolved before any damage is done. The first response to these types of situations can make or break your reputation, so acting proactively is a huge benefit.

Traceability systems allow for this and can help you go a step further by providing supporting data that can be used to work out what caused the initial problem in the first place. Automating processes through an ERP system can help map your entire supply chain, as well as offering a range of additional functionality and solutions to track where the supply chain could have failed.


Streamlining your operations

Manual traceability can be a very complex process, which can ultimately slow down or stop manufacturing processes. Traceability that is paired with automation can streamline your operations and offer real-time solutions to keeping your workflow steady. Examples include automation of information required to pass safety certifications, sales orders and audits which can reduce the time required to find this data.


What type of businesses benefit from automated traceability?

There are lots of sectors that benefit from automated traceability through an ERP system, the process and manufacturing sectors are typical users readily adopting ERP to control a number of components and interrelated processes to deliver their end product or service. Many other industry sectors can also find great benefits from these solutions though, including:

  • Mobile teams, or those out on the road, can share information as they go, providing a safer and more secure working environment for knowledge transfer

  • The healthcare industry, or any that requires monitoring or maintenance of equipment, uses traceability to keep track on their expensive equipment – to understand if it requires service, fails or for portable devices gets misplaced. This can save huge amounts of money when compared replacing expensive instruments

  • The food industry uses traceability while receiving raw materials or food products to track which product batches or ingredients are used and to document or categorise product volumes or varieties

How ERP systems can help with traceability

As we have discussed, visibility throughout the supply chain is vital. There are lots of ways that ERP systems can help with traceability, including:

  • More control over the quality of data being logged
  • Monitor, track and trace components used in product construction
  • Protecting industry from delaying product recalls
  • Peace of mind that your company has recorded every stage of the process for better quality control

Ultimately, ERP software systems can reduce additional pressures that the supply chain faces, as well as streamline the entire process. This can save time, money and the impact to company reputation were anything to go wrong.


ERP systems are essential for traceability

Being able to effectively trace your supply chain is critical to maintaining compliance, safeguarding the supply chain and making day-to-day operations more efficient. It can be an incredibly cost-effective solution for industries in the long term, particularly for those within the processing and manufacturing sectors.

If you are interested in implementing ERP solutions into your business, contact our experts at Winman today.

Download your copy of our 10 Key ERP Guiding Principles for Lean Environments here to help you achieve higher levels of quality control and traceability here:

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Topics: Lean Manufacturing, Process Manufacturing, Cost saving

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