10 replies to this topic

[NutANDFruitFoodSafety]

Hi Everyone - I am interested if anyone has used both a digital and also a manual tracing system for lot code tracking, and what your opinion of the two is.

 

I work at a small company that has a strong commitment to food safety but a small budget. We have considered building our own digital trace system, but we have really good success with manually writing down lot codes on each production / order. We also are unsure if the users at our company would be able to use a digital system effectively as we are breaking cases and packing orders without fully using lots at any given time. 

 

The problem is that the cost of doing it manually is actually quite high, as we are recording up to a couple hundred lots each day and it gets tedious. 

 

Does anybody have any opinion or experience with a similar issue?

 

Thank you.

[nwilson]

I've always seen a paper trail on finished goods lot tracking, even with a digital system.   Usage may not be paper if an ERP is involved, however roll up and snap shot of output was always a written document to justify downtime, breaks in the line, etc.  You are correct that manual recording is a tedious process and can actually create mistakes due to human error.  I am all for a completely digital system even if needed on the floor.   There are plenty of cost effective systems out there now for lot tracking that can use tablets and the like.  Even a SharePoint excel file can work if set up properly.  

[NutANDFruitFoodSafety]

Thank you. Interesting to note the paper trail as I find the physical handwritten paper to be a very solid method that is usually really easy to understand what happened with a production and it is one of the reasons I am hesitant to switch to digital.

[GMO]

I've used both paperwork and digital systems.

• There are aspects of a digital system which you must make sure are included and often even big companies do this badly. 
• The digital system must not be changeable after the event.  
• It must be unequivocal who entered the results.  So often by entry of a code or password that's not shared.
• The records must be backed up and retrievable.  
• The outputs must actually trace what is the right batch not making assumptions.  Now this is a biggie and I'll explain more below.
• You need a plan B if it breaks.
• People who conduct traceability need to know how to use the systems.
• Lastly you need to keep on top of errors and stock management so they can be corrected in real time.  This may add workload you're not expecting.

What do I mean on not making assumptions?  Probably not your business but there are big companies out there who will sell you traceability / ERP systems but when you delve deeper include something called "backflushing".  Sometimes it's possible to not have this but they're not always clear about what is happening behind the scenes.

 

So what is "backflushing" basically it's a massive set of assumptions.  Say you have 10 pallets of the same thing coming in a day.  You can set up or be assigned rules on how they are consumed within that backflush but often it will be as simple as FIFO.  So the first pallet which happened to be receipted onto the system will be consumed in full.  The reality of it is you may be consuming and picking from pallets in multiple locations so have 3 pallets being consumed at a time.  So I have a VAST preference for operators consuming as they go as they would any manual system.  But that's where that real time stock management is key.

 

I've worked with SAP, with Oracle and manual home made systems.  All have their flaws but when they are maintained and used well, they work well.  But when they're implemented without technical involvement they almost always have gaps in what you need.

[NutANDFruitFoodSafety]

Thank you. This is extremely helpful as it is most like my company where we would receive 10 pallets of something and be consuming them at the same time in different applications.

One might be being sold through in bulk, another might be being processed into a different end product etc.

I think this confirms my question basically that there likely is very little if any savings in going to digital but the upside would be that it could become more efficient over time if the operators are good.

In the end I think our management (myself included) might not have the time to manage the back end to make sure everything is going properly.

I really appreciate the answer and it helps a lot. Thank you.

[jfrey123]

I've primarily worked with manual systems and it is a huge pain in the ass.  Digitalization helps, but then the company (usually) has to have a dedicated IT person on site to keep it flowing and then competent operators of the system to make sure the information is entered correctly.

 

At my first ever QA job, all forms produced during a product run were consolidated into a batch record for that run.  I'm with you OP that having all the paperwork from a single run is easy to look through afterward and get a picture of what happened that day.  To help somewhat digitize their operation, I proposed a logging system and we introduced "Job Numbers" to the packets:

• Every year we started off with a new job format:  yyyy-xxxx (year and job number sequentially, so 2025-0001, 2025-0002, etc).
• As each product run was approved, it was entered onto the job log.  The running log had start/stop dates and provided a sequential order of what we produced during that year.
• In excel, we'd list the Job Number with the product inputs and lot numbers along with output product name and lot numbers we assigned.
• The excel let me search for lot numbers, go pull the batch record and liaise with shipping/receiving to get the incoming and outgoing BOL's during a traceback.  I could usually finish a product trace exercise in about 15 minutes with this system.

It was a super helpful tool for myself at a company that was stuck doing things in the 1980's, who didn't see the need to move into the 2010's at that time.

[TimG]

What do you use now for your inventory management? Most ERP systems that I've seen typically have built in features for lot tracking in their inventory modules.

[NutANDFruitFoodSafety]

Thank you both above. Currently we do everything manually and through an accounting system that allows us to create orders or productions where we handwrite lots on those orders. 

 

It sounds like that work is done either way and that the digital system is an added labor cost on top of the manually recording. 

 

It may or may not be more foolproof and maybe I am correct but it actually sounds like it will create more work.

 

Thank you again. Really appreciate all of the feedback from everyone. 

[GMO]

Thank you. This is extremely helpful as it is most like my company where we would receive 10 pallets of something and be consuming them at the same time in different applications.

One might be being sold through in bulk, another might be being processed into a different end product etc.

I think this confirms my question basically that there likely is very little if any savings in going to digital but the upside would be that it could become more efficient over time if the operators are good.

In the end I think our management (myself included) might not have the time to manage the back end to make sure everything is going properly.

I really appreciate the answer and it helps a lot. Thank you.

 

No problem.  

 

I think the thing is there are time savings but they may only be if / when your business grows.  There are also improvements in accuracy possible but they only come if you design the system well.  

 

But most of all, you still have people.  And people make mistakes on electronic systems just as much as they do on paperwork.  

 

Let me tell you a story.  Back in the day, one of my first companies had SAP for ERP.  To be honest it wasn't a bad system but this was my one (and only) ops role I ever did.  Friday came, finishing a hard week and the previous incumbent said "ok right, you need to come in on Saturday to stock take".

"What?"
"Yep and correct all the errors the team has made on SAP."

"Huh?"

 

So I did it for about 5 weeks, I then went back to the team members each time who had scanned a whole pallet of film when they'd just used one roll, that kind of thing and gradually reduced the errors, eventually paying one person an hour a week to do some overtime and correct any errors if there were any.

 

But if I'd not done that, it's not only the trace which could have been wrong but also the stock inventory, usage variances etc.  So that's why it's worth really getting your head around any system which is proposed being brought in as a cross functional team.  ERP installations can be painful but so can searching through box after box when someone has filed something wrong.  I am absolutely not saying "don't do it" and I think it will soon become quite "weird" in some places to have manual paperwork, especially as it can be so easily faked.  But what I'm saying is, at some point you will either go for it or move into a company that has it already.  REALLY get to understand the limitations of it well before you have an incident.  

[MDaleDDF]

[SCHerman]

My facility uses a combination of paper and digital traceability, and due to the long shelf life, we keep a spreadsheet following the trace chain from receiving the product, to the customer receiving it. We keep each sheet separated by receiving lot number, and keep digital scans of all verified documents in the company server to make tracing the product go faster.