Traceability and recall drills: how to test whether you can really find your product

What does traceability mean?

Traceability means that for a product you can find out whom you received it from, what you did with it and to whom you delivered it. The principle is often called 'one step back, one step forward': you know your direct suppliers and your direct customers.

Within your own company you go a step further: you link received raw material batches to production batches and those to deliveries. Without that internal link you are left with a list of names. European legislation generally requires this; check the current requirements with the NVWA, your customers and your certification scheme.

Tracing, withdrawing and recalling: what is the difference?

Tracing is finding a batch and its destination. Withdrawing is removing an unsafe product from the chain that has not reached the consumer yet. Recalling goes a step further: the product is already with the consumer, who is actively asked not to use it.

In a drill you go through the whole route, but you do not actually retrieve product. You test whether you can find what you need to find, whether your people know what to do and whether you reach the right parties in time.

How do you organize traceability?

Traceability starts with a batch code that you record at receipt and that follows the whole process. The finer you divide batches, for example per production run instead of per week, the smaller a possible recall stays. So choose that division deliberately, based on what you would want to be able to withdraw in the worst case.

Pay particular attention to the transitions, because that is where the link gets lost: with rework, when merging remaining batches and in packing. Make sure records are quickly searchable, also outside office hours, and that a second colleague knows where they are and how to use them.

• At receipt, record supplier name, batch code, date and quantity
• Give each production batch its own code and link it to the raw material batches and packaging used
• Record rework, remaining batches and merged batches
• At delivery, record which batch went to which customer
• Make sure you can retrieve this data quickly, even if the colleague who maintains it is absent

How do you choose a good scenario?

Choose a batch with a complex path: many raw materials, rework, several lines and delivery to several customers. A simple batch proves nothing. Preferably keep the scenario secret from the people carrying it out, so you test how it works when nobody has prepared.

Alternate the direction. Sometimes you start with a raw material, for example because a supplier reports a problem, and search forward to customers. Sometimes you start with a complaint sample from a customer and first search back to the origin. Also let a different colleague lead the drill now and then, so the knowledge does not sit with one person.

The drill in steps

A good drill follows a fixed course, so you can compare results across different years. Keep track of time, because the time to a complete picture is one of your most important measurements. Also let participants say out loud where they are looking, so an observer can see where things run slowly.

Finish with a mass balance: received, processed, in stock and delivered must add up. A result well below one hundred percent points to a gap in your records, a result above it to double-booked or wrongly linked batches. In both cases, find out where the difference comes from.

A calculation example: you received 500 kilos of a raw material batch. In the delivered products you find 480 kilos and 15 kilos are still in stock. That leaves 5 kilos unexplained. That is no disaster, but it is a lesson: where was it lost, for example as production loss, sample or administrative error?

• Start the clock and note the moment of the report
• Identify the batch involved and find its origin: supplier and raw material batches
• Find all production batches in which that raw material was used
• Find all deliveries and customers of those production batches
• Calculate the quantities: received, processed, in stock and delivered
• Stop the clock and note the time and the findings

What do you record after the drill?

Record the date, scenario, participants, the time to a complete overview of origin and customers, and the percentage of the batch you found. Which time and percentage are acceptable for you, you decide yourself based on your risk, your customers and your certification scheme. Check whether they set a requirement.

Also record the lessons learned: where you got stuck, which data was missing, what did not match reality. Link each lesson to an improvement action with an owner and a due date, and check in the next drill whether it has been solved. That turns the drill into an improvement cycle instead of an annual formality.

Communication: whom do you inform and how?

In a real situation, communication counts as much as finding the product. Decide in advance who leads the recall, who decides, who talks to customers and who deals with the authority and the press, and who their deputies are. Keep contact details of customers and suppliers up to date.

Practice the messages too. A prepared text for customers stating which product, which batch, which risk and what they must do saves a lot of time. For your duty to report to the authority and your information to consumers you follow the applicable rules.

Common mistakes in recall drills

A drill that always succeeds teaches you nothing. The goal is not a good grade, but discovering where the chain breaks before a real report does. These pitfalls make a drill look better than it is, and mean you only discover what did not work during a real report:

• Choosing an easy batch so that the drill is sure to succeed
• Practicing in only one direction and never the other
• Skipping the mass balance, so you do not know how much is still lying somewhere
• Not recording lessons learned or not following them up
• Letting the drill be carried out by the one colleague who knows everything by heart anyway
• Practicing only just before an audit and then not again for a year

How BrydgeOne supports this

The Traceability & recall module helps you plan and record recall and traceability drills. Supplier management helps evaluate and monitor suppliers, Document management keeps one current version of your recall procedure, with read confirmation, and Actions follows up the improvement points from your drill.