2007
New England Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition

Tracking and Traceability - avoiding being put out of business while improving operational efficiency

by Peter Green

With the advent of recent problems such as the contamination of dog food and spinach and the ever-present threat of bioterrorism, it has become critical for many manufacturers, food processors and distributors to maintain accurate materials traceability records. Lack of good traceability records that enable rapid, limited-scope recalls will cost the dog-food manufacturers in excess of 30 Million dollars. The recall debacle over Firestone tires on the Ford Explorer cost Firestone and Ford over $4 Billion each. Even for smaller businesses, the legal cost of defective product recalls can put them out of business.

This talk discusses the challenges that industrial manufacturers and distributors face in maintaining good tracking and traceability records. It then provides an overview of how to use barcode, RFID and wireless mobility technology to solve these problems. It also describes how to make these systems quickly pay for themselves through increases in operational efficiency and improved customer satisfaction.

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