Hello, everyone, I have a question concerning 7.5.3 "Identification and Traceability." My company has recently registered under AS9100.
Regardless of a contract, regulatory, or industry requierements, our Quality Manager and CEO have requested traceability of all components and sub-assemblies being used in our product. ie( date codes and lot control of all product used) However, my company has existing inventory purchased prior to AS9100 registration in excess of 4 million dollars. This inventory does not have (date code or Lot control) which is now in place..Is there anyway to use this inventory?

Sure you can.

I would review the older product. If it was purchased, then one could segregate it into PO numbers or date when it was received.

In your own product, one should have at least a tag on with a date when the product was completed. Use those date numbers as traceability numbers.

Now when one uses the older stock, they could use the PO numbers or date numbers on the particular product. I know we don't have heat or lot numbers so the traceability is not as pure as newer product but one will not throw away $4 million worth of good product.

Get rid of the old stock first and then you are rolling.

Hello, everyone, I have a question concerning 7.5.3 "Identification and Traceability." My company has recently registered under AS9100.
Regardless of a contract, regulatory, or industry requierements, our Quality Manager and CEO have requested traceability of all components and sub-assemblies being used in our product. ie( date codes and lot control of all product used) However, my company has existing inventory purchased prior to AS9100 registration in excess of 4 million dollars. This inventory does not have (date code or Lot control) which is now in place..Is there anyway to use this inventory?

You should have a PO number associated with this Inventory and go from there. Our System is set up to trace back Material, Parts, Purchased goods all the way to the PO it was purchased under.

...However, my company has existing inventory purchased prior to AS9100 registration in excess of 4 million dollars. This inventory does not have (date code or Lot control) which is now in place..Is there anyway to use this inventory?

Curiosity questions:
How long did it take for your company to implement AS9100? Does the inventory turnover take longer than that interval? Are there some particular components that are so expensive or numerous that this situation developed?

This might be an opportunity for improvement business-wise, even if AS9100 does not include specifically address inventory controls.

B.G. Wiehle
(we are in automotive)

Curiosity questions:
How long did it take for your company to implement AS9100? Does the inventory turnover take longer than that interval? Are there some particular components that are so expensive or numerous that this situation developed?

This might be an opportunity for improvement business-wise, even if AS9100 does not include specifically address inventory controls.

B.G. Wiehle
(we are in automotive)


Thanks to all that have replied!!

In regards to our stock, most of the excess inventory was brought on by minimum buys. Our company deals with obsolete military electronics mostly repair and some re-design. Only a handfull of our customers require traceability of the parts use all the way back to the OEM.. Our company has decided that all parts used will be traced to OEM regarless of the requierement. This now requires special purchasing instructions and proper documentation from our part suppliers. The inventory of parts prior to AS9100are hard to buy and high dollar items, since we deal with old electronic technology.

Curiosity questions, as well:
Were you ISO 9001:2000 registered prior to AS9100:2004? How did you comply with 7.4.3 "Verification of Purchased Product", which states, "The organization shall establish and implement......for ensuring that purchased product meets specified requirements". Or 7.5.5 "Preservation of Product", which states, "This preservation shall include identification....."? Both required by ISO or AS.

As Try2makeit said, Product and/or sub-assembly components should be traceable to atleast your P.O. the product/component was purchased under. Giving you some type of traceability.

Our company was not ISO registered prior rto becoming AS9100. we have been AS9100 registered for almost a year.

Curiosity questions, as well:
Were you ISO 9001:2000 registered prior to AS9100:2004? How did you comply with 7.4.3 "Verification of Purchased Product", which states, "The organization shall establish and implement......for ensuring that purchased product meets specified requirements". Or 7.5.5 "Preservation of Product", which states, "This preservation shall include identification....."? Both required by ISO or AS.Identification does not imply traceability. I can identify material with a part no. or a description, but I might not be able to trace it to a particular lot and still meet the requirement of identification.