Parts Traceability for Security, Safety and Profitability
Prompted by government regulations addressing security and consumer safety, leading manufacturers - in particular in the aerospace & defense, automotive and medical industries - are leading the way in implementing comprehensive parts serialization and product genealogy technology.
A specific example of government requiring the identification of parts is the DoD UID program. UID's will provide visibility and traceability of government owned assets throughout their lifecycle.
While spawned by regulation, manufacturers are quickly realizing the benefits of UID's and serialization in limiting the cost of recalls, improving customer support and identifying opportunities for process improvement and higher product quality
Epic Data's solutions provide support for UID compliance, item serialization, and are capable of producing complete:
- Product genealogies - a list of each UID marked or serialized item used in the product.
- Production audit trail - summary of the parts, labor, work centers and chronology of production.
- Parts traceability - list of which work orders, customer orders and product a certain part was used in.
Limit the Cost of Product Recall or Quality Issues
With increasing use of global suppliers, outsourced parts and sub-assemblies, and cost reduction initiatives, manufacturers are at increased risk of defects being introduced into their products. At some point, manufacturers will face a product recall or mandatory repair.
Being able to isolate the defective part using parts traceability and product genealogies, and proactively replacing it in only those products and customer sites affected is far less costly than a general product recall. It saves:
- Cost of a broader recall.
- Costly unscheduled warranty repairs.
- Cost of replacement inventory.
- Brand reputation and loyalty.
Analysis for Continuous Improvement Opportunities
Production audit trails not only help fulfill regulatory and contractual obligations, they are a valuable analysis tool in finding opportunities for continuous improvements. Examples include:
- Identifying over-processing and unnecessary handling of parts
- Uncovering delays in parts movement, which result in excess WIP inventory and lower throughput.
- Comparing labor efficiencies at different plants, lines or workcells, and analyzing differences to determine optimization techniques.
Improved Customer Support
Product genealogies are a valuable tool for customer support personnel in providing timely, accurate responses to customer inquiries:
- Quickly identify parts used in the customer's product so that support calls and parts and assets are directly relevant.
- Accurately determine spare parts requirements.
Call Epic Data to discuss your UID implementation, parts serialization and product genealogy challenges and learn how Epic Data's solutions will help you. info@epicdata.com 1-877-332-3742 |
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