TRACEABILITY

AN GROUP has solved traceability problems in the pharmaceutical and food industries for years. We deliver everything from consulting services, specifications to fully implemented traceability systems.

Basically, traceability is about the company being able to account for the ingredients in a given product.

AN GROUP´s solutions are based on current legislation and requirements concerning traceability within the individual industry. Thus, Article 18 of the 178/2002 EU regulation, which will come into force on 1 January 2005, sets new traceability requirements for foodstuffs and food companies. We combine public requirements with the project goals set by the company.

Traceability is not only a matter of complying with legal requirements, but also gives many possibilities for optimising company operation. Solutions which AN GROUP finds natural to assess with the client before implementing a traceability system.

By collecting and distributing indirect costs (energy consumption, resources etc.) per lot, certain cost prices for products in the production process may be generated.
Better quality management, for instance by discarding bad medium-quality lots before they go into a number of finished products.
Better overview of and information about the production stages.
Better planning foundations and optimisation of batch sizes and logistics.
When traceability and labelling is well-managed, the company is able to minimise the costs by means of a possible withdrawal of products from the market.

The realisation of an automatic traceability system usually includes a Data registration system that may be integrated with:

Bar code equipment
Badge code registration
Process systems that move/mix materials in the company
Data collection equipment

Furthermore, registration of lot data from suppliers and control data from the company´s internal systems (SCM, ERP, LIMS) is often necessary as the place of delivery of the goods has to be documented, possibly indicating the product quality.