Tracing from raw material to finished product
Integrating traceability with
monitoring
Product traceability has never been more important than
today. Originally, traceability requirements were restricted
to security parts in the automotive industry, but now it
has become an obligation in various other domains like
pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, medical devices, …
The traceability module within Barco’s P
lant
M
aster
system
uses the hardware already in place for monitoring pur-
poses. The Data Units at the work centers are extended
with barcode scanners to allow identification of operators,
raw materials and components. This significantly reduces
administrative work and customer complaints due to
wrong deliveries, wrong codification, …
The system supports electronic signatures as required by
21CFR11 compliance and can be utilized in a FDA regulated
environment.
Process routing
In the “process routing” module, the user defines a “rout-
ing” for each product, containing all necessary production
steps. For each step in the process, the machine or work-
station is defined as well as all data to be collected.
Typical traceability data includes operators, lot numbers,
component numbers and process and quality parameters.
This allows the system to check in real time if indeed all
data is collected during production.
The traceability system will automatically generate alarms
(activate a lamp for example) in case certain data is for-
gotten or is falsely entered.
Traceability reports
A powerful reporting module offers reports for forward
and backward tracking per product, component and raw
material and the search for causes in case of customer
complaints.
For each individual product shipped, the system stores
and reports raw materials and components used in each
production step, process parameters, results of quality
checks and operators that manufactured the product.
Information can be retrieved for as long as ten years in
the past.
