I apologize in advance for the missing details that will make this post vague - I am hoping to avoid a situation where someone could read this and realize that I've posted about their company!

Company A was to supply product to Company B. Company A had no product on hand, so they ordered the exact amounts needed by Company B to fill the order. When the product was received, it was checked and forwarded on to Company B. It was not tagged (with a sticker) in the way that it would have been if it had been pulled from Company A stock - Company A saw no need to put the identifying sticker on the product due to the fact that the product had information from Vendor 1 with Company A's purchase order number on it.

Company A shipped product to Company B. Company B claims that traceability was lost due to the fact that there was no identifying Company A stickers on product as in the past.

What can be done about this situation? Co. A maintains that they had traceablility all along due to the vendor1 information with p.o. numbers. Co. B maintains that traceability was lost and wants the material returned to Co. A and furthermore wants Co. A to reorder material, doing exactly the same as before only taking the extra step of adding Co. A sticker to the product prior to shipping.

Clear as mud? There must be a way to resolve this, but I'm missing it. Thanks.

IMO, traceability usually means back to the origin, which from your description remains in tact as long as "Company A" did nothing to the product other than forward it to "Company B". Also, traceability is maintained through the purchasing, shipping and receiving documentation unless "Company B's" procedure specifically require "Company A's" sticker and included the specific requirement in the contract.

Company A was to supply product to Company B. Company A had no product on hand, so they ordered the exact amounts needed by Company B to fill the order.
Who manufactures the product? Are you distributing a product made by someone else? Where did Company B get the product they supplied to you?

Company A shipped product to Company B. Company B claims that traceability was lost due to the fact that there was no identifying Company A stickers on product as in the past.
Is it just the lack of a sticker that's troubling them, or the fact that they have no way of knowing for sure from whence the product originated (which would be evidenced by your sticker)?

One possible way to avoid a struggle would be (assuming that your product and Company B's are identical) to accept the material back from the unhappy customer, supply them with replacement material through normal channels, and then use the returned material, properly stickered, for the next shipment. I wouldn't do this if traceability really is an issue, however.

Let's say Company "B" received the shipment from Company "A" with the Vendor "1" stickers on the boxes, cartons, etc. But, during transit the paperwork was lost. How would company "B" trace the shipment back to Company "A" if the sticker's, on the boxes, say Vendor 1?

IMO, wouldn't traceability be lost!!

The way I see things, the problem to Company B was the lack of sticker. In the past, when B orders from A, everything comes in with a sticker.

In this case, the identification on the products had Vendor1 information which referenced Company A purchase order number.

Since this is the first time B received product without a sticker, B thinks that A screwed up and lost traceability period and end of story. A is claiming that traceability was maintained through the Vendor1 information.

As to the above question about "what if all information fell off product in transit" - I still don't see that as being an issue in this case. Co. A does not stock these products - ordered them in special for B - received them, checked them, and put them on a Co. A truck straight to Co. B. No matter what, that material was the special order material.

Short of UFO aliens or another conspiracy-type theory of subversive agents swapping out the material en route, the material is what was ordered. I don't see any other way about it.

As to the above question about "what if all information fell off product in transit" - I still don't see that as being an issue in this case. Co. A does not stock these products - ordered them in special for B - received them, checked them, and put them on a Co. A truck straight to Co. B.

I will agree, but when I responded to your OP you did not say anything about them being put on Company A's truck.

My response was made on a similar situation that happened at my company were the paperwork was lost during transit and the only way the parts were traceable was a tracking number.

I see what you're saying - you thought it went UPS or something - I get it.

No - it went on the Company A truck with the Company A driver and it is not a product that could easily be swapped out ;)


:topic:Now I keep thinking of that scene in The DaVinci Code where they're in the bank truck...!

Since this is the first time B received product without a sticker, B thinks that A screwed up and lost traceability period and end of story. A is claiming that traceability was maintained through the Vendor1 information.




I think it's a communication and perception problem. It's a norm for B to see a sticker and now it isn't, the first impression they would draw is a screw up.

It's just like if we had to change the label color one day because the original label ran out. The customer would question if we shipped the wrong product even though the product IDs were the same.

If you can't get them convinced, my suggestion is to take the product back and label them. Unless A decides to change the system for not labelling them anymore, then it's a different story to go through the whole nine yard illustrating the capability of your traceability.