Verification, Validation and Traceability of Materials
There are various levels of material management and each comes with a price and a promise. The more sophisticated Material Monitoring Systems give you and your customers, a total picture of what was purchased, stored, conveyed, dried, blended and processed, by which machine, under what conditions and when it was done and everything is documented.
You can:
- Identify product and lot from silos, gaylords or bags
- Assure that the product is transferred to the correct bin, dryer, blender & process machine
- Identify and record processing conditions and faults
- Confirm the correct source and destination of every material
- Send the correctly dried or blended material to the right machine
- Trace a specific product, or lot, from source through molding or extrusion
The promise is that you will add to your bottom line by reducing:
- Material waste
- Lost machine time
- Rejected parts
- Late deliveries
- Processing costs
All of the above will also help your meet your LEAN manufacturing, Six Sigma or ISO goals.
An added benefit is that your material monitoring system may help you satisfy the demands of current customers or open the door to adding new customers.
If a system like this might help you, review the sections on Auto ID and Automatic Material Selection and discuss the relative costs and advantages with your systems engineer.
