4.8 Product ID and Traceability

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Richard Sadler

Help!! I'm an MSc student working for an ISO9001 registered company. I'm now working to move our systems onto QS9000. In the past the requirement for ID and traceability has been met by stating in our quality manual that we have no requirement for ID of product. Our only means of tracing anything is a date stamp on completed units.
I'm guessing that this will go down badly with our auditor.
What level of ID and traceability would be expected?
We are a manufacturer of precision fluid power components (valves, pumps, etc.) and we ship approximately 15,000 assorted units and components each month.
 
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Joe_1

Richard,
Here at our facility, we solved the problem of product ID and traceability with shop "travelers" and tags. Let me explain. We purchased a software package that allows us to track jobs from Quotation to shipping. This software produces work orders or shop travelers with along with a job number. We then take tags (with twist ties), plain minilla as a matter of fact, and attach them to the products. The job number is hand written on these tags therefore allowing the job number to be traced to the job traveler and so on... We produce a lot of our components from "raw" metals also. What we did here was to explain in our manual that the traveler(job) number is placed on the stock metals with a paint marker to identify it. To sum it all up, you can use the job numbers you generate for ID and Traceability. Just be sure to explain it in your manual keeping all of the QS9000 requirements in mind.


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Joe W. Guy,
QS9000 Administrator
 
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Joe_1

I forgot one statement to make about the 15,000 assorted parts! Sorry!

We solve this problem at our facility by generating a controlled form by taking a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, creating a part number blank (part#_____________), date (DATE___________), and piece count(pcs_____).
Our parts are handled and shipped in wooden box crates. We take these tages and staple them to the box for I.D. We have a color code system here also. Each color means status of the parts here. So we use the same form, but with applicable colors.

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Joe W. Guy,
QS9000 Administrator
 
R

Richard Sadler

Joe,
Thanks for your info.
It seems, from your reply, that we have most of the tools available to meet those requirements (job cards/numbers, etc). It's going to be a matter of formalising things and ensuring that we have batch sizes (no. off) included and also track the raw material to a particular job number.
Once again, thanks.
Richard.
 
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