Background

Anyone who designs their value creation chain and logistics in a transparent way can trace exactly the origin of their raw materials and the route which they have taken. With serial numbers or batch numbers and checks at all significant transaction points, the manufacturer obtains a resume of any product. This puts you in a position to react in a targeted way in the event of a recall, for example.

Manufacturer benefits

The basis is a general track & trace system. This represents the so-called end-to-end check, i.e. from the manufacturing process to the selling off of each individual item. The manufacturer therefore has knowledge of which products are affected and where to find these within the trade. If individual products and complete delivery units are given individual serial numbers, logistics personnel and dealers can approach individual markets precisely and with the right product, instead of merely approaching them with the exact item, which used to be the case.

Consumer benefits

A homepage or app can be created for the end customer for a Smartphone, for example, to which it can be directed via the data matrix code. This is where a wide range of information can be incorporated such as the address of the nearest service partner, possible accessories and other additional information.

Internal improvement potential

Whoever depicts the product and logistical history of their products in a batch-related or even product-related way can detect problems at an early stage and determining the cause more quickly. Track & Trace also provides a facility for tracking individual processes in the dispatch area, for example. For example, a single scan in the warehouse is sufficient to break down the contents of bigger dispatch units in detail. This means that it will no longer be necessary to scan the palette of each product individually – it is sufficient to scan the palette and the database contains the serial numbers of all of the products that are on it.

Outlook

Serialisation is becoming mandatory in an increasing number of cases. You don’t have to start from scratch when implementing Track & Trace. Well-tried solutions are already available.