Could we talk about traceability vs value?
David Mullins said:
Anyone have a tried and proven manual system for segregating product types and production weeks in storage warehouses?
(A pretty brief question)
Went through a horror patch late last year with quarantining stock from specific days and weeks, and have decided to batch release (by week) specific items to outside storage facilities. Yes we carry a lot of stock. In this particular case I'd like to hold OE parts from each weeks production, and release as one batch.
Back to the question - Any easy way of achieving this in a warehouse environment?
Interesting that Marc should resurrect this post from a time before my membership, since I had a conversation just this morning about traceability.
In most environments, especially the aerospace sector, regulators and producers are concerned about the traceability of components installed within assemblies.
The producers are in a constant battle to maintain a sense of equilibrium between the costs of individual identification and the problems in actual and soft costs incurred if a component fails and a recall is required.
The topic of our discussion this morning was the development of "micro 2-D" barcoding which could essentially allow identification of individual pharmaceutical doses in hospital and clinic settings. The implications of this relatively low cost means of identification included "mistake-proofing" drug administration to a patient by using low cost bar code readers to track each dose, compare it to a bar code on a patient wrist band or ID card to assure it's meant for that patient, and maintain a record, traceable back to the point of manufacture as to which plant, pill making machine, day, shift, or hour the dose was produced. In the event of discovery of failure or adverse reaction, the numbers of doses which might have to be recalled would be limited, but most importantly, every patient who had received a dose from the suspect batch could be tracked and monitored for additional adverse effects or given counteractive drugs or therapy.
In light of the general desire for more traceability among organizations for their products, I applaud a desire on an organization's part to improve traceability by segregating different batches. I suggest more thought and effort be given to containerizing and labeling even daily batches. The curse here is bulk storage (and potential for mixing batches).
David used the abbreviation "OE parts" which I take to mean "original equipment parts." He's already had one episode of scurrying to quarantine parts, why shouldn't he look to a more consistent and foolproof way of segregation by different packaging and labeling?
I predict it will be more cost effective in the long run, because the discreet identification will be maintained on his customer's shelves until installation. If the customers are astute, they'll take advantage of the identification to be able to track the parts once they've been installed and resold to THEIR customers. Looks like a win-win to me!
