2 replies to this topic

[NorCalNate]

I'm fairly new to my company (Winery with an attached bottling and warehouse). We just went through our first Mock Recall and I found quite a few issues, most of them having obvious fixes. There were two questions I had:

 

1. Warehouse Traceability - how much detail do we need to have for product in our warehouse? For example, our bottling line produces pallets of 56 cases. After bottling, these are moved to a lane in our warehouse, which is documented, though only the Finished Good Item# and Bottling Lot# are identified (Pallet# is not noted). Do we also have to indicate the specific pallet#s location in addition to the other fields? 

 

2. Tracking information - when our Warehouse pulls cases to send to our distributor, they only note the finished good item# and bottling lot#, though they do not record the pallet# from which the case was pulled. Is this OK, or do we need to be indicating pallet#s?

 

3. Bills of Lading - While we are keeping BOLs for DTC and shipments to our distributors, I don't believe the warehouse is keeping BOLs for transactions between our facility and our sister facility (both the same company just different locations). For example, when Marketing requests wine, they send us the order and we pick the item then a carrier arrives and brings the wine to the sister facility.

[nicfarmer12]

I'm fairly new to my company (Winery with an attached bottling and warehouse). We just went through our first Mock Recall and I found quite a few issues, most of them having obvious fixes. There were two questions I had:

 

1. Warehouse Traceability - how much detail do we need to have for product in our warehouse? For example, our bottling line produces pallets of 56 cases. After bottling, these are moved to a lane in our warehouse, which is documented, though only the Finished Good Item# and Bottling Lot# are identified (Pallet# is not noted). Do we also have to indicate the specific pallet#s location in addition to the other fields? 

 

2. Tracking information - when our Warehouse pulls cases to send to our distributor, they only note the finished good item# and bottling lot#, though they do not record the pallet# from which the case was pulled. Is this OK, or do we need to be indicating pallet#s?

 

3. Bills of Lading - While we are keeping BOLs for DTC and shipments to our distributors, I don't believe the warehouse is keeping BOLs for transactions between our facility and our sister facility (both the same company just different locations). For example, when Marketing requests wine, they send us the order and we pick the item then a carrier arrives and brings the wine to the sister facility.

 

Hi NorCalNate! 

 

On number 1, my company does not record actual pallet location of finished goods. All are stored in our finished goods warehouse. We do not keep record of which pallet or row they are in. I feel like that is a bit of over kill. 

 

Same thing with number 2. I do not know of a reason that you would need to keep up with the pallet number (unless its directly related to the recall process or part of the actual lot number). Your goal is to be able to trace all of your product that is being recalled, not the pallet or spot it was located on at your facility. 

 

For number 3, it is going to depend really. Are your two companies connected with in one system? If not, then yes, keep the BOL. I would keep it even if they were not. You never know when an auditor may ask you how that shipment got there.  

[Kara S.]

Everything you mentioned is great for continuous improvement and will only better your traceability. I think they would be great for a large company. If you implement while your sales and inventory are smaller it'll be easier to manage if you are planning ahead for growth. #3 would be the only change I'd implement at this time, but discuss the other points as a cross functional team to see if there is really a benefit to doing it and what the cost and labor would look like.

1. Dependent on the size of your operation, understanding where each specific pallet is may be helpful. It would eliminate the amount of time you had to search for it if there was an issue.

2. This would only be helpful if you are recalling a time frame of product/ a partial lot. It lessens the scope of your recall if for example you know that the last 2 pallets had an issue and everything else was fine. If you don't know where the product on those pallets went, then you are recalling the whole lot. Typically a good element to have for a large operation.

3. You should keep all your shipping records. Most gfsi codes require you treat an interplant transfer the same as you would a customer.