Material Tracking & Genealogy

Material Management in Manufacturing

Achieving clarity within a plant has become an important goal in today’s manufacturing world. Whether plant managers want to cut costs by making operators work more efficiently or minimize losses during a recall, having a clear understanding of what is happening on the production floor is essential to achieving these goals.

Systems for material management with tracking and tracing, often within a complete Manufacturing Execution System (MES) or MOM environment, are the solutions that can best provide this clarity. Tracking and tracing tools automatically record all of the materials that enter or leave a plant and monitor the status of those materials while they are being consumed and/or produced throughout the manufacturing process. Effective solutions for material management are critical to both the process and discrete manufacturing sectors.

Solutions for Material Management, Tracking & Tracing

Engineering’s material management solutions offer the following functionalities:

Automatic material recording, tracking and tracing
Material master/item master data definition management
Lot status management
Forward genealogy
Backward genealogy
Handling unit management
Material set point tracking
Integration with ERP
Warehouse management and/or integration

Benefits of Material Management, Tracking & Tracing

Taking advantage of the above functionalities offers many benefits to manufacturers. Information provided by Engineering’s material management solutions lead to improved lean practices and process optimization. If operators are adding materials incorrectly, or even possibly adding the wrong materials, controls can be put in place to ensure operators can only proceed in their work in the desired manner. Integration with other systems along the workflow can help prevent further quality issues and reveal unsafe practices.

Thanks to complete genealogy availability, critical data will be accessible during a recall or audit. Managers will have the ability to trace back all original materials of a product and quickly determine which supplier they came from as well as identify other products that may have been contaminated. By having an effective tracking and tracing system, companies can reduce the time and money spent during these stressful and costly events. Additionally, tracking and tracing data provided to the ERP system can be used as a cost analysis tool in evaluating the expenses of producing final goods. Other benefits include: