Hi Patrick,
Mr. Incognito has provided some really solid and helpful advice in the world of DIY.
However in this day and age shop floor track and trace technology systems are pretty ubiquitous in food companies. You don’t have to be PepsiCo to afford one either.
I’m not talking about SAP or Dynamics or any of these big business systems. There are a plethora of smaller suitable solutions out there that can be as straight forward as a windows application plugged into a label printer.
Yes, there is a degree of complexity and a financial investment is required. But by going your current route you are attempting to reproduce a ‘system’ which has been done a million times before over several decades by computer software. I would relate it to a business which chooses to operate its financial accounts on one of those big vintage ledgers, instead of buying a half-decent piece of tech and saving themselves the heartache.
Track and trace does not need to be complex. But it is immensely more complex when you are trying to do it on paper forms and spreadsheets, while amassing a lot of data. Remember you are not just tracing back to your suppliers ingredients; you must also have the ability to trace forward to your customers.
If you are aiming for GFSI certification you will need to be able to demonstrate the above competently, accurately and quickly. Flicking through reams of paper to ‘join the dots’ when you have an auditor or major customer breathing down your neck is not a nice place to be.
My 2 cents.
Philip.
Edited by Philip Gillen, 26 June 2014 - 08:16 PM.