Traceability
Today, the need for follow-up and printing of data throughout the chains of production and logistics, imposed in particular by international standards, became crucial, even impossible to circumvent.
From the point of view of the user, the traceability can be defined like the fact of following operations and/or goods qualitatively and quantitatively in space and time. From the point of view of the information management, to set up a system of traceability, it is systematically to associate a flow of information a physical flow. The objective is to be able to find, at the wanted moment, thanks to , beforehand given data relative to batches or groups of products (also beforehand given) and this, starting from one or more key-identifiers.
The traceability was defined in 1987 like: "the aptitude to find the history, the use or the localization of an entity by means of recorded identifications", this entity being able to indicate:
- an activity or a process,
- a product,
- an organization or a person.
When it is referred to a product, the term "traceability" can refer to:
- the origin of materials and the parts;
- the history of the processes applied to the product;
- distribution and the site of the product after delivery.
Why implement an effective traceability?
Various factors justify the need for follow-up on the chains of production, external or internal to the company, allowing this one to fall under a logic of reliability, development and optimization of its processes:
- the sedentary requirements
- the universalization and the diversity of the chains of provisioning
- the mass production and the loss of proximity
- the complexity of the offer
- the evolution of the behavior of the consumer
- an environment more and more regulated
The successive food crises, for example, provoked a growing interest of the consumers and the media for a greater transparency. Beyond, the public health is focused more than ever on complexity and on the international character of these chains.
Thus, the number of laws,regulations and standards concerning sanitary safety increased these last years, codifying the commercial and industrial environment. The same type of example applies to other sectors like: industry, car, pharmaceutical, cosmetic....
- To control quality
- To ensure the safety of the consumer and to optimize the recalls of products O O To control logistic flows
- To respect the regulation
- To benefit from a commercial asset or to protect a public image
How to implement an effective traceability?
In order to guarantee a traceability without fault, of the chain of provisioning is essential. To follow the raw materials and the goods inside the circuit of a company is not enough. It is necessary also that information exchanges and with each passage from one company to another. The traceability can be the result only of one .