Why you need this traceability audit program
Importers will have to work closer with their manufacturers in Asia to ensure they have the right traceability systems in place and those systems are truly effective. There are 2 reasons why a traceability audit program is necessary:
You will have a much better ability to deal with quality/safety issues
Suppose a serious issue is found and there is good traceability. In that case, the manufacturer can quickly identify what equipment and what batches of components were involved (among other interesting data) and can get to the point of cause quickly. That allows much faster root cause analyses and hopefully closing of the issue.
Perhaps more important for retailers and brand owners, in case of a product recall, detailed traceability means the scope of the recall is much smaller (and much less expensive). Some companies were forced to recall all units of a certain model ever made and distributed because they couldn’t set a limited scope!
You will improve compliance with sustainability requirements.
The US CBP wants to see evidence of the provenance of certain sensitive components/materials, for example, cotton, polysilicon, dried tomatoes, etc.
The EU’s upcoming sustainability-focused regulations (CSRD, ESPD, but also the upcoming regulations about batteries, deforestation, etc.) require transparency on the provenance of some of the components. Without a proper traceability system, it is impossible to know for sure.
There are 2 scenarios where the audit program can be performed:
- If you are qualifying a new supplier, it can be a one-time audit.
- If your current supplier is going into a production batch for you and you want extra assurance that they apply good traceability practices, we can be on-site at the factory(ies) a few times during the production run. It could look like this, for example:
- Raw materials and components: traceability back to the source, approved supplier list, recall procedure…
- Inventory in the warehouse: stock in & out system and records, access controls, material labelling, lot-level traceability
- Manufacturing processes: what level of detail is recorded, tracking of changes in production, quality of records, special cases
- Inspections and testing: quality of records
- Finished products and packing: labeling on products and cartons
- Delivery: quality of records
- Documentation: how records are kept and retained
This type of audit provides you with an in-depth assessment of the factory’s traceability system. We actually test their system by picking random parts or finished products and tracking them (forward or backward in time), which is the best way to confirm the system is working.
Pricing
From 495 USD for a one-time audit, and from 299 USD for a program of visits during production.
