Track and Traceability in Ignition

Ignition

Mar 27

Manufacturing companies of all kinds (especially food and beverage, aerospace, automotive, and other critical component companies) can all benefit from the tool: a Track and Traceability System.

What is Track and Traceability?

At its core, a Track and Traceability tool follows materials through all stages of a manufacturing process. It records which raw or in-process materials went into a given operation, what came out, and where it went next. Track and Traceability saves timestamps, lot numbers, quality control information, and other relevant data you need to know about your products.

If your processes are running well, Track and Traceability is collecting more data points for monitoring your process, people, and profits along with cool charts and graphics. But, Track and Traceability really shines when there’s a production issue and you need to find the root cause quickly.

For example, a customer finds a defect with one of your products. Track and Traceability will allow you to see if there are similar problems within a particular lot number. You will have the data to quickly evaluate the operations, ingredients, and process conditions surrounding that lot number. From there you can determine if a particular raw material was causing issues, track down any anomalous process conditions, and even know who was working during the production run in case they need more training.

Once you track down the issue, you can then check for any other affected lot numbers and alert your customers accordingly—often before they even realize there is an issue!

Track and Traceability in the Real World

A good example of Track and Traceability in the real world is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Vehicle Recall site . This site allows consumers to search a vehicle’s VIN number to see if any product recalls apply to their cars.

Most automotive factories have stringent data collection requirements for each vehicle, in some electric vehicle factories this can even include actual torque readings from each bolt in an entire vehicle! The Track and Traceability system will keep all of this information so that any vehicle’s record can be retrieved if a recall is required.

When a recall happens, Track and Traceability makes it easy to find calibration and certification data for each torque wrench, along with relevant information for every bolt. Then, you can identify every affected vehicle. From there you can search across other commonalities to narrow the recall to only the correct specific set of affected customers.

With this sophisticated information, you can approach your suppliers and ultimately close the quality gap and reduce your overall risk exposure—all while improving your supply chain in the process.

Track and Traceability with the Ignition Perspective Module

With the release of Ignition’s Perspective Module and the ease of integrating web-based frameworks with Ignition Modules, building a Track and Traceability System has never been easier!

In fact, Corso Systems has developed a framework, the React Flow Chart on top of the React library specifically to build a powerful Track and Traceability system in Ignition from native components in the Ignition Designer.

With this tool, we can build up a process flow to match the complexity of your system—and then drill down into specific operations for relevant quality data, supplier information, lot numbers, and any other relevant data for determining the root cause of a production issue.

The data you configure to store in the Track and Traceability system will be stored for every batch and/or product you produce. Then, the data is managed through your Ignition architecture with full access to redundancy, and backed up with your other process data. And since it’s all in Perspective, Track and Traceability can be accessible on any device on your network, for any users you’ve granted access. Ignition’s powerful built-in features are fully available to this system.

Wrapping Up

The Track and Traceability system we’ve built within the Ignition Perspective Module is another arrow in our Manufacturing Execution System (MES) quiver. We can deploy it for you to quickly implement a sophisticated Track and Traceability system that can handle the most complex processes in the world, giving your team access to the information they need to better serve your customers.

Customer Service and Education are two of our core values at Corso Systems. And as our world becomes increasingly connected through data and technology, its more important than ever to give your customers honest, transparent, and clear information about product quality. Now you can know and share information about raw materials, how your products are produced, and demonstrate how you stand by them, even if the going gets rough. Track and Traceability is an easy way to provide this customer facing value while giving your internal teams better tools to continue improving their practices on the plant floor.