Regardless of your organization’s business model, products, or customers, you need to manage your assets at every turn. Inventory accuracy, safety, and quality are all necessary to run your business efficiently — but how can you keep track of everything when your business has so many moving parts?
This is where traceability comes into play.
As you add more products, tools, and equipment to your business, you need a smarter way to track and account for the physical goods you own. If you’ve ever had equipment “magically” disappear, you know how these costs can add up quickly.
Item traceability fixes this problem by adding a layer of transparency to every facet of your business. Learn how traceability works and how beneficial it is for growing your business.
Traceability is the practice of tracking physical goods in an organization. This includes the moment you receive an item, every time you use it, and when you finally dispose of it.
With better traceability, businesses are able to identify and trace products in their supply chain. That might require using different processes, tools, and software to keep tabs on everything you own.
Durable barcodes and tags are the foundation of traceability, providing a simple identification method for assets that can be used to monitor their movement throughout an organization or through the supply chain.
When choosing labels and tags, consider the environmental conditions your assets or equipment are exposed to and choose durable label materials that can withstand harsh conditions while remaining readable throughout the lifespan of your assets. Metalphoto® labels and tags, for instance, have an expected exterior lifespan of 20+ years, even in harsh conditions.
Traceability is important for customer-facing assets, like B2C products or food processing equipment. But traceability is also important for manufacturers who need to keep a tight rein on assets like machines, boilers, and pipes.
Depending on your business model, you can use traceability to get greater visibility into:
You can gather much more data on your assets with traceability, too. With scanning solutions and software, you’ll be able to track data on:
| Data Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Location | Warehouse, field, customer site |
| Usage | Frequency, duration, purpose |
| Maintenance | Service dates, repairs, upgrades |
| Ownership | Current user, department |
| Condition | Working status, wear and tear |
| Compliance | Certifications, inspections |
Traditionally, businesses filed paper forms to maintain item traceability, but with so much room for error, losses and failures are inevitable.
You need to digitize to get the most out of your traceability practices. A powerful combination of QR labels, barcode scanning, and software solutions make it easier than ever to automatically track your assets — whether they’re in the warehouse, in the field, or with your customers.
Traceability is a concept that extends across various industries and applications. Understanding the different types of traceability can help organizations implement more effective tracking and tracing systems.
Here are the main types of traceability:
This type of traceability is crucial in scientific and industrial settings. It involves the ability to trace the history of measurements back to national or international standards. Measurement traceability ensures accuracy and consistency in measurements across different laboratories and organizations.
Supply chain traceability focuses on tracking products and materials as they move through various stages of production, processing, and distribution. This type is particularly important in industries like food and pharmaceuticals, where product safety and authenticity are paramount.
In software engineering, traceability refers to the ability to link requirements, design elements, source code, and test cases throughout the development lifecycle. This type of traceability helps manage changes, ensure quality, and maintain compliance with project specifications.
Healthcare traceability involves tracking medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and patient information throughout the healthcare system. It’s crucial for patient safety, inventory management, and regulatory compliance in healthcare settings.
Each type of traceability serves specific purposes and addresses unique challenges within its respective field. By implementing the appropriate type of traceability, organizations can enhance their operations, improve quality control, and meet regulatory requirements more effectively
Traceability consists of two key components: tracking and tracing. While these terms are often used interchangeably, they represent distinct processes that work together to create a comprehensive traceability system.
Tracking refers to the ability to follow a product or component’s journey forward through the supply chain. It involves monitoring the item’s current location and status as it moves from one point to another.
Tracking is crucial for:
Tracing, on the other hand, is the process of looking backwards through the supply chain to identify the origin and history of a product or component.
Tracing allows organizations to:
The combination of tracking and tracing provides a complete picture of a product’s lifecycle, from raw materials to end consumer.
This comprehensive approach to traceability enables businesses to:
By implementing both tracking and tracing systems, organizations can create a robust traceability framework that addresses the complex demands of modern supply chains and regulatory environments.
But why does traceability matter? Businesses are free to operate without traceability processes, but it has so many benefits that will make your business more competitive in this cutthroat environment.
If there’s a recall on a specific model, ingredient, or product you have or sell, it can be a nightmare to determine what’s actually recalled. But with traceability, it’s easier to comply with these recalls because you know which items to pull — as well as where they’re located — for faster resolution.
Does your business suffer from inaccurate inventory counts? While you might not be able to remove all errors from your business, traceability makes it easier to avoid input errors that are common with manual processes.
With traceability, you can keep up with maintenance information, logging it accurately every time. The right practices and technology will ensure that what’s happening in real life matches what your traceability systems say, too.
It’s easy for things like laptops and field equipment to go missing, especially in a larger organization. Asset loss costs businesses millions of dollars every year, but with traceability, you add a layer of accountability that makes it much harder for assets to disappear. This won’t stop all asset loss, but it will make a tremendous dent in your current loss figures.
If you’re using traceability to keep tabs on vehicles or machinery, it can actually increase the lifespan of the equipment. Traceability makes it a cinch for techs to locate the correct assets and do the right maintenance for the machine at the right time. If you’re keeping up with the recommended service schedule, this allows you to get more mileage out of your assets over time, saving thousands of dollars in the long run.
Depending on your industry, you might be required to prove traceability for compliance reasons. This is common for defense contractors, as well as aviation and manufacturing companies.
With traceability, it’s much easier to hand data over to regulators. Have everything prepared for auditors in a neat little package instead of scrambling when it’s time for your audit.
Implementing a traceability system is a complex process that requires careful planning and execution. Here’s a helpful guide to help your organization set up an effective traceability system:
Implementing traceability can face several obstacles:
To overcome these challenges and ensure successful implementation:
Following these steps, address challenges proactively, and adhere to above list of best practices, and you organization can successfully implement a traceability system that will enhance your operations and meet industry standards.
Traceability can feel like an insurmountable challenge, but with the right processes and technology on your side, it’s simple to implement at scale. Proper traceability starts with asset tagging solutions from MPC.
Get a free sample of our durable asset tags to see how you can remove human error from the equation.
Full traceability means being able to track and document every step of a product’s journey through the supply chain, from raw materials to finished product. It provides complete visibility into all processes, components, and facilities involved in manufacturing.
Traceability procedures are the methods and systems used to collect, record, and manage data about a product’s origins, processing, and distribution. This can include lot numbering, barcoding, documentation of suppliers and processes, and maintaining chain of custody records.
Benefits include improved quality control, faster and more targeted product recalls, enhanced consumer trust and transparency, better inventory management, reduced waste and costs, and the ability to verify sustainability and ethical sourcing claims.
Common technologies to implement traceability include:
Our sales engineers are experts in automatic asset tracking, tagging and identification,a nd can answer all your questions. Get in touch now.
Lets Talk ›Enter your information and get a free guide that will give you a detailed overview of metal labeling, its advantages over alternative label materials, and all the best practices for using metal labels in your own business or organization.
